It was another somewhat bearish year for Connecticut’s housing market, as total single-family home sales dipped, while prices barely increased.
Statewide, there were 33,146 single-family home sales in 2019, a decrease of more than 700 from the prior year, according to data from The Warren Group, publisher of The Commercial Record. The median single-family sale price for the state as a whole in 2019 was $260,000, an increase of less than half a percent from 2018.
Still, despite the continuation of stunted growth, the housing market presented some interesting trends last year that are worth a closer look.
Few Bright Spots in Slumping Fairfield County
The Fairfield County, known as one of the strongest local economies in the Nutmeg State, struggled in 2019, with more than half of the communities in the county seeing their average median sale price decline from the previous year.
Overall, the county saw their average median sale price on single-family homes drop by 2.65 percent between 2018 and 2019, the largest price decrease of any county in Connecticut.
However, there were a few bright spots within that county that saw price appreciation in 2019. Bridgeport, Bethel and Danbury experienced single-family median sale price gains of 6.88 percent, 5.35 percent and 4.5 percent, respectively.
Danbury and Bethel are very desirable because they are popular commuting locations and also very walkable, among other factors, said Robert Morey, a Realtor at RE/MAX who does a lot of business in the Fairfield County.
“Danbury has historically been a very well-managed city,” he told The Commercial Record. “There is overall economic health and vitality, and a more attractive tax situation that allows people to invest and purchase. If real estate taxes are a little bit less, you can afford to pay a little bit more. It becomes arithmetic at that point.”
Affordable Areas on the Rise
In Hartford and New Haven counties, some of the more affordable areas saw more price appreciation than the wealthier areas.
For instance, wealthier communities like West Hartford saw no appreciation on their median sale price in 2019, while others like Glastonbury and Farmington saw median sale price decreases of 1.03 percent and 7.12 percent, respectively.
Conversely, some of the more affordable communities like Newington, New Britain and Manchester all saw their median sale price appreciate more than 3 percent, while Wethersfield saw a gain of more than 6 percent.
“The Millennials are driving that,” said Joanne Breen, president of CT REALTORS and a broker at ERA Sargis-Breen Real Estate Co. “Affordable houses are going quicker because Millennials are entering the market. They are looking at entry-level houses.”
Breen added that condominiums have been flying off the shelf. According to data from The Warren Group, six of nine counties in Connecticut saw the average median condo sale appreciate in 2019, a reversal for the condo market, which got battered after the financial crisis.
“It’s sort of an easy transition to go from renting an apartment to owning a condominium,” said Breen, adding that “turnkey” condos and homes are selling extremely quickly. “They are not getting caught up in having that exterior maintenance just yet.”
A similar trend also played out in New Haven County.
Breen suspects it can be attributed to the New Haven’s significant bounce back from the recession – more so than in Hartford County – and all of the city’s activities and attractions for young people.
The higher-end homes, according to Breen, are not selling as well because so many of the higher-end buyers have left the state along with businesses like GE.
New London Shines
The New London county led the state with an overall median sale price appreciation of 4.3 percent on single-family homes.
Lower-end communities in the county like Norwich and Lisbon did well, with 9.71 percent and 12.16 percent increases, respectively, as well as higher-end communities like Stonington, with 15.7 percent price appreciation in 2019.
The high performance can be attributed to extremely low inventory, said Debra Chamberlain, a business growth manager at RE/MAX Integra, who does a lot of business in the southeastern part of the state.
Chamberlain said the lower-end part of the market has seen a boost from increased hiring of entry-level engineers at General Dynamic Electric Boat in Groton. Those workers are turning communities like Norwich and Lisbon into bedroom communities because Stonington and Groton are too pricey, she said.
Meanwhile, Chamberlain said Stonington is benefiting from a large influx of New York buyers purchasing second homes.
Another factor that has helped New London County’s higher-end waterfront homes is that the area has been lucky with the weather. If there are no hurricanes, Chamberlain said people’s fears dissipate and they are more likely to buy.
“When we have a storm and everyone is faced with the reality of flood insurance and premiums and uncertainties and refunding of the NFIP [National Flood Insurance Program], then it causes everyone to pump the breaks on those homes located in those floodplains, which is a good chunk of New London county on the shore line,” she said.
