Expert Advice from Amy & Kyle Bergquist at Keller Williams Legacy Partners
For the first time since February, the number of single-family homes that went under contract dipped under 700 for a month. July saw 685 contracts come together providing our first evidence that the real estate market may actually take a breather over the summer. July felt surprisingly busy to us – especially the first half, which seemed like a continuation of June and the spring market. We expected the calls and emails to slow down
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
The other day we wrote about the high levels of activity in the Hartford County market during the month of March. West Hartford really stood out on the chart because 83 homes went under contract, which dwarfed the next highest town – East Hartford with 53 contracts. Part of the model we built to analyze MLS contract data allows us to look at trends in individual towns. Here is the number of West Hartford contracts
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
The number of single-family homes that went under contract in January 2012 jumped 14% over January of last year. The total of 458 deals that came together signals that the local real estate markets are off and running for 2012. We have heard a number of theories as to why buyers are active so early in the year. One is that the lack of snow has everyone acting like it’s spring. Another line of thinking