{"id":8681,"date":"2012-08-16T10:16:20","date_gmt":"2012-08-16T15:16:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.amybergquist.com\/blog\/?p=8681"},"modified":"2012-08-16T10:16:20","modified_gmt":"2012-08-16T15:16:20","slug":"the-condominium-opportunity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.amybergquist.com\/blog\/2012\/08\/16\/the-condominium-opportunity\/","title":{"rendered":"The Condominium Opportunity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Condominiums are currently out of favor with buyers. The number of closed condo sales in Hartford County fell about 57% from its peak in 2005 to 2011.<\/p>\n

\"Hartford<\/center><\/p>\n

There are many reasons why the number of condo deals has fallen so dramatically. Much of the decline can be attributed to a change in buyer sentiment, which has also impacted other property types. In the mid-2000s everyone wanted to buy a home because real estate was all the rage. Real estate was regularly in the news and was a frequent topic of conversation. And the fact that basically anyone could get a mortgage didn’t hurt either.<\/p>\n

Buyer sentiment has changed dramatically, and the average citizen is much more thoughtful about whether buying a home is the right decision for them. Which is a very good thing.<\/p>\n

However, buyer sentiment doesn’t explain the entire drop in condo sales. As a point of comparison, single-family Hartford County homes sales only fell by 41% from its peak in 2005 to 2011<\/a>. What’s different about the condo market? Lots of things, actually, but we’ll get into that some other time.<\/p>\n

The main point is that there are opportunities in the condominium market right now. <\/p>\n

1. Owners need to sell, but there are not enough buyers to go around.<\/strong> Where single-family inventory is currently at about 6.6 months<\/a>, condominium inventory is much higher at just over 9 months. There is a supply and demand mismatch in the condominium market.<\/p>\n

2. Prices have fallen dramatically in individual condo communities.<\/strong> Some have found a bottom and seem to be rebounding, while others are still struggling to find a market price. This can be supported with data at the individual community level, but stats like “median price” or “price per square foot” become unreliable at the Town or County levels because the sales mix changed. The mid-2000s featured large, premium priced, new construction communities selling all their units within a couple years. The current market, on the other hand, is dominated by resales since new projects are few and far between.<\/p>\n

We see the condo market as an exaggerated version of the overall real estate market. When real estate is in favor, condos can benefit even more than single-family homes. But when real estate is out of favor, they lose value more quickly than other property types. Based on the chart at the top, we would hope that the local markets are much closer to the bottom than to the top. Is it “The Bottom?” We have no idea, and neither does anyone else. <\/p>\n

But we do see attractive condos out there. This seems like a good time to get into the market if you’re buying a property for the right reasons (to live in, or to rent as a cash flow investment), and you’re able to understand and feel comfortable with the additional risks inherent in the condominium market. The trick is to separate the good opportunities from the bad ones.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Condominiums are currently out of favor with buyers. The number of closed condo sales in Hartford County fell about 57% from its peak in 2005 to 2011. There are many reasons why the number of condo deals has fallen so dramatically. Much of the decline can be attributed to a change in buyer sentiment, which has also impacted other property types. In the mid-2000s everyone wanted to buy a home because real estate was all<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1568,1570],"tags":[1913,1916,1970,4017,2712],"class_list":["post-8681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-buying","category-condos","tag-condo","tag-condominium","tag-ct","tag-hartford","tag-real-estate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amybergquist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amybergquist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amybergquist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amybergquist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amybergquist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8681"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.amybergquist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8681\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8711,"href":"https:\/\/www.amybergquist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8681\/revisions\/8711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amybergquist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amybergquist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amybergquist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}