Single-family home sales in Connecticut fell 27 percent year-over-year in the first half of 2008, although there are a handful of bright spots in certain counties, according to a new report from Rocky Hill-based Prudential Connecticut Realty.
The state’s largest real estate firm, which bases its data on figures from multip le listing services, said there were 10,882 sales of single-family homes through June 30, down from 14,901 in the same period a year ago.
Every county except Windham County experienced sales drops of more than 20 percent compared to a year ago. Windham County sales fell 8.4 percent in the first half of 2008, from 451 to 413.
Similarly, Windham County also saw a 7.8 percent drop in the average number of days a property spent on the market in the first half of the year, from 153 to 141 days. New London and Tolland counties also saw a slight decrease in the number of days properties spent on the market.
Statewide, Prudential Connecticut Realty also found that prices continued to drop in the first half of 2008. The median price fell 8.8 percent from $315,000 in the first half of last year to $287,200 this year. Middlesex County was the only area where median prices increased year-over-year, up 1 percent to $315,000 from $312,000.
Barry P. Rosa, vice president and director of the company’s new homes and land specialty markets division, stressed that while the numbers seem grim for the state, Connecticut’s housing market is still faring better than the nation as a whole. He also said that “properly priced” homes continue to sell well.
Rosa ended the report with a warning, cautioning agents and brokers to expect the current market unrest to continue “a while longer.”
National New Home Sales Down
Sales of single-family homes in June fell 0.6 percent compared to May, to 530,000 from 533,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Year-over-year, new home sales fell 33 percent in June compared to June 2007.
The median sales price of new houses sold in June was $230,900. The average sales price was $298,600. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of June was 426,000.
National Foreclosures More Than Double
Nationwide foreclosures rose 121 percent year-over-year in the second quarter, to 739,714 filings on U.S. properties, according to California-based industry tracker RealtyTrac.
Foreclosure filings rose 14 percent in the second quarter compared to the first quarter. The RealtryTrac report found that one in every 171 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing during the second quarter.
Connecticut ranked 19th on the list of states with the most total foreclosure filings, with 4,945 filings in the second quarter. California topped the list, with more than 200,000 foreclosure filings in the quarter.
Slumping Market Mangles Remodels
The weak economy and distress in housing markets are impeding remodeling activity, according to Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.
The center’s Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA) shows that home improvement activity will continue to decline, falling by an annual rate of 11.1 percent by the first quarter of 2009.
