Warren Group: CT Home Sales Rise, Prices Level Off

February 1, 2010 -- Connecticut median sales prices for single-family homes fell 10.1% in 2009, a full-year picture that changed somewhat when prices rose in five of Connecticut’s eight counties in December. The $240,500 year-end median sales price was down about 18% from the state’s price peak in 2007, a smaller decline than a national average above 30%.

Connecticut Association of Realtors President Robert Kennedy said last week the statewide price decline occurred mostly at the higher-price end of the spectrum, reflecting the supply shortage of affordable and modest-market rate homes in the state. The widely acknowledged supply shortage of those homes has led many housing experts to predict a significant rise in prices when demand picks up.

Meanwhile, the number of year-over-year home sales rose 34.8% in December and the number of sales for all of 2009 fell only 1.9%. “Single-family home sales in Connecticut posted solid gains during the last three months of 2009 and that helped to temper the sharp drops in monthly sales earlier in the year,” said Timothy M. Warren Jr. “The homebuyer tax credit and low mortgage interest rates helped to boost the home sales. Median prices for single-family homes and condominiums continued to deteriorate last year, but on the positive side we did see a gain in the median price for single-family homes and condos in December – the first increase in more than a year.”

December’s median home price rose 3.6 percent to $238,250 from $230,000 in December 2008. It was the first increase in monthly median home prices year-over-year since November 2007.