Hartford County finished June with 1,027 single family contracts. It was the third straight month of more than a thousand deals, and a gradual decline from the May peak. The month was slightly busier than the unusually active June 2015.
On a year-to-date basis, the first half of 2016 was about 15% ahead of 2015. The outperformance has decreased as spring arrived, though each individual month is still ahead of the corresponding month from last year.
We have been keeping our eye on the upper price bands to see how their stats evolve as more data comes in. It was clear from early on in the year that the lower price bands, which represent most of the housing stock in the region, were strongly outperforming 2015. However, we were hesitant to make a similar claim about price bands above $400,000 since there are so many fewer data points.
Six months into 2016, it’s safe to say that the upper price points are showing improvement over the first half of 2015. In fact, the 24% increase in the number of contracts in the $500,000 to $699,999 price band leads all price bands.
The second half of 2016 could be influenced by the presidential campaign. Every four years our broker tells us to be prepared for the market to slow. The market didn’t slow during the 2012 election, but there was an incumbent running for reelection. There is more uncertainty this election cycle, as both presumptive nominees are polarizing figures.
