Hartford County single-family owners have returned to a level of new listings that is in line with seasonal trends. Listing counts over the past three weeks have matched 2019 totals almost exactly.
We have been watching the real estate market to see how it rebounds from the stay-at-home orders that interrupted the spring market.
Our hope is that the spring market will shift into the summer months. There continues to be a very high level of buyer demand, as evidenced by the number of contracts signed thus far in June. However, the supply of available homes continues to limit activity. Quality homes in the lower price bands are selling very quickly in many towns, often with multiple offers.
In order to achieve the delayed spring, the supply of homes needs to increase. We have not seen the level of new listings that allow the market to make up for lost time.
To be fair, there were a lot of listings last June and the market’s best opportunity to reverse the large accumulated deficit in listings will come in July and August. New listings in the second half of the year might be too late for buyers focused on the school calendar, which is a portion of the buyer pool that helps create the “spring market” effect in some of the region’s towns.
The other possibility is that the real estate market simply missed out on the spring market this year. Only time will tell, and we will continue to report on what we see in both the data and our own experiences in the market.