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Tariff fears might be overshadowing the start of this year’s spring homebuying season, but demand will remain high in Connecticut due to a lack of inventory, market-watchers say.

According to the most recent data from The Warren Group, publisher of The Commercial Record, there were 3,755 single-family home sales in Connecticut the first three months of 2025, a 14.9 percent increase over the same period in 2024. The median single-family home sale price increased 8.1 percent on the same basis to $400,000.

While there was a dip in home sales, said Carl Lantz, former president of the Connecticut Association of Realtors, demand was still strong to start the year with only overpriced homes staying on the market for longer periods of time.

“The rule out there is pretty similar to what it’s been the last few years, where anything that’s priced right and in any sort of decent shape and priced well for what it is, is going with multiple offers over asking extremely quickly and if it’s not selling in the first few days, it’s very likely that the price is too high,” he said. “If you see something that’s sitting, at least in most major areas in Connecticut, if they’re not sold in the first week, they’re probably a little overpriced.”

Lantz noted that an agent in his office had a showing where 107 people visited the property in two hours.

“Everybody that we talk to is saying that open houses are extremely well-attended,” he added.

Lack of Inventory a Buffer Against Uncertainty

Connecticut’s lack of inventory should lead to relatively strong demand regardless of this spring’s economic jitters, brokers claim. Pauline Bennett, Northeast regional president at Coldwell Banker Realty, noted that according to figures from statewide multiple listings service Smart MLS, inventory in the Nutmeg State in the first quarter of 2025 was 5,062 units compared to 16,823 in the first quarter of 2020.

Demand – relative to supply – is being bolstered by the fact that Connecticut continues to see an influx of buyers from New York, with a few even relocating from California to Fairfield County following Los Angeles’ devastating wildfires.

“Connecticut is seeing positive migration for the first time,” she said. “The pandemic was the first time that we saw that changed, that shift from negative migration to positive migration. What it means for buyers is they’re either expanding their search, delaying their search, or compromising on some element in order to make purchasing possible.”

While the lock-in effect may still drag on current homeowners’ willingness to sell, Bennett said, first-time buyers are facing the biggest challenge heading into the spring market.

“Not as much as they were at seven, for sure, seven-and-a-quarter,” Bennett said. “There are certainly a segment of sellers that are experiencing the lock-in effect. The bigger challenge is for the first-time homebuyer, for the new home buyer, they don’t have the lock-in effect and they’re in a very competitive market.”

Lantz said he thinks that interest rates are trending in a direction where more sellers would be comfortable putting their home on the market.

“One thing that hopefully is helping, and this is not the lion’s share of the market, but interest rates had been creeping downward slowly,” he said. “I think rates starting with a 6 seem more palatable. Those folks who maybe are in a house and are reluctant to give up their, 3 percent mortgage are starting to see that maybe we’re approaching numbers where they’d be willing to do that.”

Additionally, heading into the spring market, homebuyers could have to be prepared to waive certain clauses or contingencies to make their offer stand out compared to others.

“In this market, I see a lot more people that pre-qualified to purchase without having to sell if they can,” Lantz said. “If you’re getting eight or 10 offers on a house, the seller really just isn’t going to want to take a sell to buy clause. They want somebody who’s buying it clean without having to do that. So we’re seeing a lot more people, getting those ducks in a row ahead of time so that they can buy without having to sell or have their house under contract, and then oftentimes, they will immediately turn around, get their house on the market within the next week or two. Maybe there’s a little overlap, they’ll buy and then a week later they’ll sell their house or sometimes people are even piggybacking those two closings to do it the same day.”

With some contingencies being waved, Bennett believes its increasingly important to have a good realtor by your side as a homebuyer.

“They can coach them on what waiving contingencies means and really help them to determine if that is an appropriate strategy for them,” she said. “A good agent, well connected in the marketplace, who has a reputation for getting deals done is as important to a buyer in a competitive situation as anything else.”

A Watchful Eye on the Economy

Uncertainty over the American economy’s direction has dominated the news since February. Real estate brokers are watching to see if it affects home sales in April and May.

But as March turned to April, the entire country appears consumed with economic uncertainty.

Tariffs announced in February and then delayed by President Donald Trump have been targeted at Canada, Mexico and China. And after much hype, he recently announced a “baseline” 10 percent tax on imports from every country on the globe, and said tariffs on key trading partners like the European Union and China will run much higher – 20 percent and 34 percent, respectively.

Combined with the Trump administration’s hardline immigration policies, economists say the moves could trigger another round of  inflation and could see the United States enter a recession.

That message appears to be getting through to consumers.

University of Michigan researchers’ highly-regarded index of nationwide consumer sentiment dropped 27.1 percent year-over-year in March, a 10.5 percent drop over February’s reading. And the U.S. Commerce Department’s regular report of inflation-adjusted consumer spending barely budged, suggesting average Americans are husbanding their cash.

For any buyer with the luxury to treat homebuying primarily as an investment, these economic warning signs may not be much of a deterrent.

“I think any time when we see a lot of volatility in the stock market, the real estate market becomes even more attractive,” Bennett said. “Because not only is it a great investment vehicle, it’s also dual-purpose.”

But due to the lack of inventory, Lantz believes that Connecticut could be less affected by the economy compared to other places.

“I think given the low inventory, people are slightly less affected by the broader economy, unless literally, it’s affecting them in terms of their income or a job or something of that nature,” he said. “I think that people who want to move are doing their best, and know how tough the market is.”