As the COVID-19 pandemic entered its dying days in Connecticut, Greater Hartford saw an increase in both new single-family listings and overall inventory in April according to the Greater Hartford Association of Realtors.

Single-family inventory rose 14 percent month-over-month to 1,203 as 869 new listings hit the market, a 12 percent rise from March. However, those figures were lower than both April 2020, when many homeowners had reversed course on listing their properties due to COVID-19’s sudden arrival, and April 2019. Last month’s inventory was down 36 percent from April 2020 and 76 percent from April 2019, underscoring the tightness of the market.

“The motivated buyer trend continues to create multiple offer situations, resulting in rising prices,” GHAR CEO Holly Callanan said in a statement.

Market-watchers have been hoping to see an influx of sellers who had previously held off from listing, whether due to COVID fears or due to a lack of confidence in their ability to find a new home once they sold their current one. However, the month-over-month increases in new listings and total inventory seen in April 2021 were much lower than the same figures seen in April 2019, suggesting any substantial pulse of inventory may not be here, yet. While single-family inventory grew 14 percent from March 2021 to April 2021, it grew 26 percent from March 2019 to April 2019. New listings grew 12 percent over the same period this year and 79 percent over the same period in 2019.

The condominium market saw broadly similar dynamics, with overall inventory holding essentially steady from March to April 2021 at 329 units and new listings increasing 16 percent over the same period to 234. However the same figures for 2019 saw condo inventory increasing 18 percent to 993 units while new listings rose 23 percent to 250.