Greater Hartford Real Estate Blog

Hartford County finished June 2017 with 1,000 single-family contracts. Hitting four digits in a month is rare, a level of activity that the market only reaches during spring months of busy years. Despite reaching the 1,000 deal milestone, the month trailed the activity level of June 2016 by about 2.6%. On a year-to-date basis, 2017 trails 2016 by 0.5%.

Town-by-town results (below) are often widely scattered, but June’s results seem to be exceptionally diverse. Even in the smaller markets it’s unusual to see outperformance or underperformance of more than 50% for a month. Five of the 28 towns had at least a 50% swing in the number of deals compared to June 2016.

The year-to-date trends also show quite a bit of diversity. Many, but not all, of the less dense suburbs to the west and north of the City lagged last year’s performance by over 10%. At the other end of the spectrum, East Hartford and Manchester recorded the two largest increases in deals. East Hartford is 59 contracts ahead, while Manchester is at +57 contracts.

Inventory of active listings continues to follow the same trend we have been reporting for years. In the County overall, it is a seller’s market for properties worth less than $200,000, a neutral market for homes between $200,000 and $400,000, and a buyer’s market for prices above $400,000. The dynamics of individual towns definitely vary, but the general trend typically holds. Sellers have the advantage at the low end, while buyers have the advantage at the high end.

Although the summer has the reputation of being a slower period for real estate, the chart at the top shows that July and August are still active months for buyers. We’re looking forward to keeping the year going as we work with our buyer and seller clients. Let us know if you need some real estate help!

May contracts rebounded sharply from the seemingly out-of-line data point reported for April. Hartford County finished the month with 1,123 single-family contracts. It was a higher total than any of the spring months in 2016, or any other month since we began tracking contracts using this methodology in 2009. The May total brought the year to date deal count to within 2 of May 2016 count.

Inventory data showed that there was a modest increase in the number of available homes. The County’s months of inventory increased from 3.3 to 3.5. Additionally, the number of municipalities with 3.0 months of inventory or less declined from 12 to 8. There was more balance between supply and demand in May than in April.

Buyers intent on purchasing this spring faced two headwinds that may have caused the April data point to be an outlier.

First, competition from other buyers may have prevented home shoppers from “winning” properties that they tried to buy. This headwind was caused by the low inventory levels that were observed.

The second headwind was psychological, the natural tendency to want to wait to see if better options appear. The Greater Hartford real estate market is dominated by homes that were built decades ago. There is relatively little new construction, and virtually no large-scale subdivisions that offer new, cookie-cutter single-family homes.

Because of the nature of the housing stock, every home is different. Buyers who don’t love their options will often wait to see if something better comes onto the market. They want to find the right fit. However, there is a limit to their patience. At some point they have to pick from the available options so that they have a place to live.

May continued the strong spring real estate market. Hartford County is back on pace with 2016, and shows signs of continued strength into the late spring and early summer months.