Big bids still surfacing for homes, but market leveling

Of so many breakneck sprints to close a Connecticut home purchase or sale in the past two years, one that stands out for Coldwell Banker agent Melodye Colucci was a recent instance in which a buyer took their time — to the extent of spending extra for multiple inspections to determine if anything was amiss with a house that had been on the market for a few weeks.

“My client was saying, ‘What’s wrong with this house?’” Colucci said. “That was their mentality, having gone through the craziness of the past year.”

Heading into the summer of 2022, buyers may finally be getting a reprieve in Connecticut and nationally after experiencing a block-shopping form of shell shock since the 2020 outbreak of the COVID-19 virus. That surprise expressed by Colucci is the result of two years worth of houses sold well above asking prices, many within days or only hours on the market and some without the new owners even stepping foot inside.

Studies and anecdotal evidence suggests many sellers are no longer looking to break the bank with their asking prices, but with some still motivated to sell before rising interest rates and any future recession take the air out of the real estate market.

In a study of just over 100 metropolitan markets studied nationally by Redfin, the greater Bridgeport, New Haven and Hartford regions had relatively small percentages of sellers cutting their asking prices in May compared to many locales in the Northeast and nationally.

In Bridgeport and other parts of Fairfield County, just 15 percent of homes listed for sale had a cut in price as calculated by Redfin. That compared to more than 22 percent of listed properties taking price cuts last month across the metropolitan New York City and Boston markets tracked by Redfin, and above 30 percent in multiple Florida markets.

Paul Breunich, CEO of William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty, based in Stamford, said that New York City residents continue to scour western Connecticut for relocation options.

“It’s still a sellers’ market — demand is exceeding supply and

Alexander Soule/Hearst Connecticut Media A Milwaukee Avenue house in Bethel that sold for $460,000 on June 22, 5 percent more than what its owner sought when listing it for sale two months earlier.