There were 752 single-family contracts that came together in Hartford County during October 2016. The total was virtually identical to the October 2015 deal count. Activity in the county is 10% ahead of 2015 on a year-to-date basis, though essentially all the gains were made in the first half of the year.
When breaking down the year-to-date deal count by price band, the trends have evened out considerably. There were three price bands with gains of more than 20% through the end of June. Only the $200,000s stand out in the data through October, with gains of 18%. Most of the other price bands showed gains of about 12% plus or minus a couple percent.
The extreme ends of the pricing spectrum both have fewer deals than at this point in 2015. Contracts on properties with asking prices of less than $100,000 are down about 12%. The reduction is mostly related to a strong pricing environment created by demand for entry level properties. Homes are selling for more than they did last year, in the lower $100,000s instead of below that line.
Sales are down about 10% for homes with asking prices of more than $1,000,000. However, this only corresponds to a difference of four properties, so it’s not clear how meaningful the result actually is.
Trends over the past few months suggest that the real estate markets will experience their traditional winter slowdown. Buyers will still be out shopping for homes, though there will be fewer of them than there were during the warmer months of the year. Sellers need to understand the dynamics of their town and neighborhood markets, and make sure that they price their property correctly for the environment. Feel free to reach out to us with questions, we’re always happy to help.
