CTGLC sets After Hours event

The Connecticut Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce will hold a virtual Business After Hours event at 6 p.m. Feb. 24. The event will feature Apella Capital LLC and attorney Terrance J. Frolich, and the topic will be “Why should I care about my life and death?”

The focus will be on “how to plan your legacy while you’re living and ensure you leave one for your family when you are gone,” according to a release.

But today’s buyers and builders have another extraordinary tool at their disposal — interest rates that at 2.7 percent for a 30-year mortgage are at nearly half their level of two years ago. The Federal Reserve has indicated it will hold interest rates steady for at least the next year in an effort to boost economic activity coming out of the pandemic.

subdivided for multiple homes.

Currently in Connecticut, 1,600 newly constructed homes are listed for sale on Zillow, including 200 in the past month alone and several of those already under contract. But it is not quite yet a build-itand-sell-it bonanza — large numbers more remain available that came on the market last summer and fall.

The Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection currently lists 1,600 home builders approved to perform new construction.

“As far as who is buying, it depends on what part of the state we’re talking about,” Jim Perras, president of the Home Builders & Remodelers Association of Connecticut, said in an email. “In central Connecticut, typically what we are seeing is customers in their 30s or 40s with children — most are second time home buyers and residents from the area. Contrast that with the Fairfield County area, where the vast majority of new home buyers are from out of state, with many existing residents opting to remodel and build additions.”

Perras said that builders are busy enough that it is squeezing out any excess capacity for speculative home construction for subsequent sale. And he said builders are getting squeezed on another front — the cost of materials.

Prices for building materials have escalated sharply the past several months including for lumber, confounding builders who are purchasing supplies after locking in prices for existing projects. The Associated General Contractors of America beseeched President Joe Biden on Thursday to intercede by finding ways to increase domestic lumber production or make it easier for suppliers to import from Canada or other countries.

But today’s buyers and builders have another extraordinary tool at their disposal — interest rates that at 2.7 percent for a 30-year mortgage are at nearly half their level of two years ago. The Federal Reserve has indicated it will hold interest rates steady for at least the next year in an effort to boost economic activity coming out of the pandemic.

In Stonington, the agent who sold the 33-acre parcel near Lord’s Point indicated that activity is booming elsewhere as well, including on Mason’s Island at the mouth of the Mystic River.

“I just sold or put under deposit about six or seven lots there,” said Judi Caracausa of Market Realty in Mystic. “Wonderful new construction happening there too.”