January Contracts: Strong, Very Strong

January contracts were up nearly 19% over the same month last year. The market appears poised for a strong spring season, and to extend the increase in activity that we saw in 2012. Can 2013 outperform 2012 in each and every month in the same way that 2012 outperformed 2011? That would be exciting for the market, and going back to a chart from January showing that the region is about 30% below market activity

November Contracts: A Gradual Winter Slowdown

November contracts came in at 482 deals for the month, which shows a reasonable and normal decline as we head into the colder months and the holiday season. Comparing this November to last year is misleading. The data shows us more than 40% ahead of November 2011, which is much higher than the 25% year-over-year bump that we have been reporting in past months. But last year there was a disruption in the market than

May Contracts: The 2012 Spring Plateau

Hartford County real estate markets finished May with basically the same number of single-family deals as March and April. Looking at the chart below, one might think that the market has hit some sort of speed limit or something. Why haven’t we broken through the ceiling of about 750 deals per month? The only month on the chart with a higher total was April 2010, which was the deadline for collecting the Federal Home Buyer

April Contracts: A Sideways Step

April single-family contracts came in at about the same level as Hartford County saw last month. Activity remains much higher than we observed in 2011, and the month-to-month count of negotiated contracts seems to be following the same pattern as last year. We’ve already commented on much of what we’re seeing in the market right now. Some towns are very active, and multiple offer situations are common. Inventory is on the low side, so buyers

February Contracts: Full Speed Ahead

We had a sense that the real estate market was picking up, but numbers are even more impressive than we would have guessed. The number of single-family contracts written in Hartford County was up 50% over February of last year. The pace of deals this year is also ahead of 2010, when there was a first time home buyer tax credit. The strong January result is starting to look less like an abnormality. February continued