Housing permits increase in July

But year-to-date numbers not as impressive,

Connecticut’s housing market posted gains in several key performance indicators in July, according to data released Thursday by a real estate industry trade group and the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development.

The most significant gain came in area of new housing permits.

There were 340 units of new housing permits issued last month, a 53 percent increase over July 2016, according to the data from DECD.

The median sale prices for single-family homes and condominiums also increased in July. The Connecticut Realtors trade group reported a 3 percent increase in the median sale price for single-family homes and a 1.2 percent hike for condominiums.

New housing permits are considered a leading economic indicator because the industry accounts for about 27 percent of investment spending and 5 percent of the overall economy. Furthermore, the housing industry also has an impact on retail growth for household goods such as appliances, electronics and furniture.

Westport led the state in new housing permits issued with 97. Milford and Greenwich had the next largest number of new housing permits issued, with 18 each.

Donald Klepper-Smith, chief economist and director of research for New Haven-based DataCore Partners, said the increase in housing permits last month compared to July 2016 reflects the volatility associated with looking at the data on a month-to-month basis.

“This was a better month than relative to last year, but the year-to-date numbers are off significantly,” Klepper-Smith said.

Through the first seven months of this year, the number of housing permits is down 19.7 percent compared to the same period in 2016. There were 2,427 new housing permits issued through July 2016 compared to 1,948 given out during the first seven months of this year.

The number of housing permit issued so far this year looks even worse when compared to how many were issued during the same period in 2015. There were 3,060 permit issued through the first seven months of 2015, so the 2017 year-to-date total represents a 36.3 percent decrease.

The median sale price of single-family homes sold in Connecticut during July increased by 3 percent, or $8,000, to $273,000. The median sale price for single-family homes sold in the state during July 2016 was $265,000.

The median sale price for condominiums sold in Connecticut during July increased by 1.2 percent, or $2,000, compared to the same period a year ago. The median sale price for condominiums last month was $169,000, compared to $167,000 in July 2016.

The number of singlefamily homes and condominiums sold last month was largely unchanged, according to the Connecticut Realtors group.

Single-family residential home sales in Connecticut were down by a slight 0.1 percent last month compared to July 2016. There were 3,694 homes sold last month, compared to 3,698 in July 2016.