The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
CONNECTICUT CALLING
State becomes one of the hottest real estate markets in the country during pandemic
Days after a real estate firm cited the Hartford area as among the hottest markets in the country for September home sales, Gov. Ned Lamont made a stop in Newtown Friday to highlight statewide gains — while pledging to do what he could to help municipalities limit property tax increases that are an important criterion in home buyers choosing Connecticut or New York.
In a Monday report on home sale trends, Re/Max reported Hartford-region home sales rose by a third in September, eclipsed only by Billings, Mont. and San Francisco.
Since last spring, Connecticut real estate agents have reported droves of buyers coming out of New York City, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on city schools and businesses. While that has been most evident in Fairfield County, the unease has also triggered a renewal in sales of homes for weekend and vacation escapes further east along the Connecticut shoreline and into the Litchfield County hills and the Connecticut
River valley.
Statewide between July and September, Berkshire Hathaway Home-Services New England Properties counted 17,775 homes selling, a 32 percent increase from a year earlier with Fairfield County seeing a spike of more than 50 percent. In its own report this month, William Pitt Sotheby’s Interna-
tional Realty indicated a significant backlog of imminent sales is in the offing, setting up an active autumn selling season that could spill over into 2021.
“I think people are rediscovering the Connecticut lifestyle and what it means,” Lamont said Friday in Newtown. “Two years ago, I was running for office and moving vans were all leaving the state: ‘Last one out, turn out the lights.’ . ... Well, that’s no more. The moving vans are turning around and more people are coming to Connecticut.
“I’ve always said I don’t want more taxes — but I don’t mind more taxpayers,” Lamont added. “Our budget deficit — it ain’t pretty, we have a deficit like everybody else — but it’s down dramatically, thanks to a lot of people coming into the state. ... It puts us in a lot stronger position economically than a lot of our peers.”
In response to a question, Lamont said he is mindful of the pandemic economy’s impact on municipal budget deficits that could cascade into future property taxes, a major determinant for home buyers in making decisions on where to live.
“What we’ve tried to do is hold the line on municipal aid and not cut that,” Lamont said. “We allocated more of our (Coronavirus Aid, Relief & Economic Security Act) money to education — that went to towns and schools — than any other state in the region, because we thought that was so important. ... I think the property tax (collections) are coming back, and people are making the payments. We gave them a couple of extra months to do that. I’d like to think we’re stabilizing.”
The president of the Connecticut Association of Realtors said that while some local markets have grabbed headlines for bidding wars — Greenwich and Westport among them — the overall upward drift in demand and by extension prices has been evident statewide.
“You get these isolated anecdotal stories — but they are really isolated where you see dramatic spikes,” said Joanne Breen, an ERA agent in Newington. “Overall throughout the state we are seeing a very modest increase in value, which is keeping us affordable and keeping the market very helpful and moving.”
Dan Rosenthal, Newtown’s first selectman, was quick to point out challenges for Connecticut towns, noting it was the first time he has seen Lamont in town since early August when Tropical Storm Isaias knocked out power for days, one cost of living in the leafy suburbs in an era of storms or increasing intensity and droughts that have weakened trees.
But Rosenthal added that Newtown is among those in Connecticut that is seeing its small-town economy ease back into motion, with several new businesses surfacing in the past month including a pair of craft breweries and a vineyard.
“We’re seeing a lot of existing homes selling at premiums over what [sellers] were asking,” Rosenthal said. “I think it’s about offering housing that ... is inclusive — that is not just for people who can afford 5,000 square feet on a half a dozen acres. I think a vibrant community is one that has a lot of different diversity in its housing base, and we are seeing that in some of the development that’s taking place.”