SHORELINE HELPS BOOST CONNECTICUT HOME SALES

Connecticut saw a slight increase in home sales in the third quarter, according to a prominent broker, but surges in Stamford and Danbury had Fairfield County pacing the state with a 5.7 percent increase.

Statewide, 10,725 singlefamily homes sold between July and September, about 185 more than the third quarter of 2018 for a 1.8 percent gain as reported by Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New England Properties. The third quarter is considered an annual barometer for the overall real estate market, given the needs of families who need to move prior to the start of the school year.

New Haven County also performed comparatively well with a 4.4 percent increase in house sales from a year ago, with New London County lagging Connecticut with a 7.2 percent decline.

With 27,050 homes sold in the first nine months of the year, Connecticut is about 150 off the pace of 2018 heading into the final quarter of the year when sales activity typically slows with the approach of the holidays.

Thirdquarter activity was greatest in the segment of properties priced between $200,000 and $500,000 with an 8 percent increase statewide. Stamford sales were up 35 percent from a year ago to just over 250 transactions, edging Fairfield for the highest sales total in the wider county, while Danbury had close to 150 sales for a 21 percent boost.

Ansonia and Derby sales were up 19 percent and 24 percent respectively, with the state’s largest city Bridgeport registering a 4 percent increase among sales reported by Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New England Properties.

“The market continues to be fiercely active in the low end,” stated Candace Adams, CEO of the Wallingfordbased brokerage, in an email to Hearst Connecticut Media. “The high end has buyers at heavily discounted prices. The slow start to the year panicked most of us, but clearly it’s a delayed spring market.”

Along Fairfield County’s Gold Coast, sales were flat in Greenwich in the third quarter, while rising in the low double digits in Darien and New Canaan.

“The (New York City) market saw a big drop in highend sales as the ... conveyance tax was greatly increased,” Mark Pruner, a director in the Greenwich office of Berkshire Hathaway, told Hearst Connecticut Media. “Greenwich sales from $6.5 million to $10 million are up 75 percent from last year. The (New York City) ... conveyance tax may be a reason, as well as the fact that many houses previously listed for over $10 million are bargains at the new market prices that are now under $10 million.

“Many of these ‘bargains’ are in backcountry Greenwich where sales are up 28 percent from 2018 after many years of dropping sales,” Pruner added.

Norwalk sales were down 9 percent and Westport off 16 percent, but Berkshire Hathaway saw ample activity farther east along the Connecticut shoreline and inland in lakeside communities, which the firm suggested was a sign of an active market for secondary vacation homes. Sales were up 32 percent in Westbrook, 25 percent in Madison and 15 percent in Guilford, with the Candlewood Lake community of New Fairfield seeing a 39 percent lift.

Alexander Soule / Hearst Connecticut Media A Hattertown Road home listed for sale in midOctober in Newtown by Re/Max. The town’s sale transactions were up 7 percent through the first nine months of 2019, slightly ahead of the gain for Fairfield County as a whole.