July was an active month in the West Hartford single-family real estate market, but not quite as exciting as June. There were 86 closings in July, which was modestly above the 2012 count, and on a year-to-date basis we are about 12% ahead of 2012 in the total number of closed deals.
The statistics can shift a lot over the summer months. Buyers that put properties under contract in the spring close on those deals and move in to their new homes over the summer, so June and July tend to be the peak for closings. At the same time, the number of homes under contract will begin to shrink – there was 158 under contract in June versus 144 right now. The change in the number of active listing is less predictable, and it has remained almost identical to what we reported in June.
The charts below show that the inventory of active listings in the $200,000s has increased since the June report. This is the most active price band in town, and is just below the median sale price for West Hartford MLS deals – the median price in town was pretty consistently right at $300,000 for 2010, 2011 and 2012.
You can find lots of different types of homes with prices in the $200,000s. There are nicely updated smaller homes in many neighborhoods, medium sized homes in very good condition in a few neighborhoods, homes that are a bit dated, and homes that need a complete overhaul.
It’s not yet clear why inventory is increasing in this price band, especially because there is less available in the $100,000s, the $300,000s and the $400,000s than there had been in June. Our guess is that buyers have slowed down on buying homes that need updating. It also looks like there are a few properties in the price band with quirks that will require waiting for the right buyer.
At upper West Hartford price points, sales activity continues to be taking a slower pace. There are many fewer listings with asking prices of $700,000 and the market dynamics are distinctly different.
Overall, West Hartford has had a strong year in 2013, and it will be interesting to see what kind of fall market develops in the coming months.
