Spring Home-Buying Season Hits Sluggish Start In Greater Hartford
Posted on May 16th, 2011
The spring home-buying season — traditionally the busiest of the year — is off to a slow start in Greater Hartford, which doesn’t bode well for a broad-based housing recovery in the area this year.
Closed sales of single-family houses plunged 34 percent in April, compared with a year earlier, and pending sales — a key indicator of sales that will take place in the next two to three months — fell 38 percent in the same period, according to a report Wednesday from the Greater Hartford Association of Realtors. The association tracks a 57-town area from Enfield to Middletown.
The sales report was not unexpected. With slow job growth in Connecticut and stricter borrowing requirements, most experts didn’t expect much of a rebound in housing this year. Across Connecticut, sales fell for the sixth straight year in 2010.
“The numbers are off, primarily due to job uncertainty and people having a lot of options,” said John M. Zubretsky Jr., president of Century 21 Access America in Wethersfield. “The inventory is up, and there is no real perceived urgency by buyers.”
- Topics
- Homes
- Real Estate
- Mortgages
- See more topics »
- X Inventories Fannie Mae Fairfield (Fairfield, Connecticut) Freddie Mac Wethersfield Fairfield County Middletown
- Maps
- West Hartford, CT, USA
Inventory of single-family houses rose 9.3 percent, to 6,758 in April from 6,179 a year earlier. Based on closed sales of 518 this April, the area had a 13-month supply of homes, more than double the six months supply considered healthy, favoring neither buyer nor seller. A lower supply benefits sellers because buyers have fewer choices and the houses in the best condition and location often command higher prices in multiple bidding situations.
The sharp decline in year-over-year sales in April was perhaps deeper than it might have been if the market hadn’t been temporarily boosted last year by the homebuyer tax credit. The credit pushed up sales, but did not create the lasting momentum of recovery as had been hoped.
April did have a bright spot: the median sale price — in which half the sales are above, half below — did not decline from a year ago, remaining at $220,000.
A separate report Wednesday showed similar trends throughout Connecticut in April. According to real estate company Re/Max of New England, closed sales of all homes — single-family houses, condominiums and multifamily units plunged 24 percent compared with April, 2010. The median sale price fell nearly 7 percent, to $255,000 in April, from $273,500 a year earlier.
Last week, mortgage rates slipped to their lowest levels so far this year, but more affordable home loans are doing little to spark more sales. Borrowers are having a tougher time qualifying for loans if they don’t have strong credit scores and lack a sizeable down payment — a consequence of loose lending and the mortgage crisis.
Some experts fear more bumps in the housing recovery still lie ahead.
A proposal by federal banking regulators could lead to borrowers’ being required to pay additional points if they can’t come up with a 20-percent down payment, which critics say would lock out may potential buyers from making a purchase.
In addition, the federal government is poised to reduce the size of mortgages it is willing to back through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The change has the potential to hit upscale markets, such as Fairfield County in Connecticut, making the sale of large houses more difficult.
hc-home-sales-april-0519-20110518
- Tweet
- (2)
« Previous Story More Connecticut Real Estate News – Hartford Courant Next Story »
- Deck stairs all about the math
- Trading Spaces
Similar Posts:
- Connecticut Home Sales Remain Weak in April
- Mortgage Rates Hold Steady For Second Week
- Existing Home Sales Reach 6-Month Low in May
- Home sales rose in March, but market lags 2010 in Northeast Ohio, nationwide
- Rate on 30-year mortgage falls to 4.80%
Tags: Greater Hartford, Hartford
Filed under Real Estate Agent |