Home Sales, Prices Rise; Inventory Dips Slightly

Home sale prices in greater Hartford got a late summer bump in August and appear to be on a pace to register a modest year-over-year gain for the year, a new report Wednesday shows.

The median sale price for a single-family house in the area — in which half the sales are above, half below — rose 3.6 percent in August, to $240,000, from $231,700 for the same month a year ago, according to the monthly report from the Greater Hartford Association of Realtors. The trade group tracks a 57-town area from Enfield south to Middletown.

Sales of single-family homes rose 3.1 percent in August, compared with a year ago, the report shows. The sales closed represent purchases that would have gone under deposit 45-60 days earlier.

New listings — an indicator of seller confidence in the market — rose a modest 1.3 percent compared with August 2017. Inventory slipped 1 percent, part of a recent string of declines, leaving scant options for the most desirable properties.

“The upward trend in closed sales is typical during the summer market,” Holly Callanan, the association’s chief executive said in a release. “An uptick in new listings is a good sign for those looking to buy.”

The association’s August report also gives an early indication of how the area’s housing market could finish up the year.

Through the first eight months of this year, the median sale price rose 3.8 percent, to $232,500, from $224,000, for the same period a year ago. Sales are down .88 percent, or essentially flat.

Most greater Hartford towns and cities — and those across Connecticut — are still struggling to reverse declines in sale prices from the last recession a decade ago.

Economists blame a couple of factors, including sluggish job growth. State budget woes, they say, also have thrown into uncertainty how much state aid will consistently come to municipalities to offset local property tax increases.

How the state approaches job growth and the state budget could shift dramatically after a new governor is elected in November. Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Stefanowski has said the key to bringing back home prices is to cut the state income tax. Democrat Ned Lamont says job growth and stronger economy are critical to home price recovery.

In the condo market in greater Hartford, the median sale price rose .34 percent, to $153,000, in August from $152,475 a year earlier. Sales rose 4.2 percent.