Processing Your Payment

Please do not leave this page until complete. This can take a few moments.

May 19, 2020

Greater Hartford home sales down, prices rise in April amid COVID-19 uncertainty

By Joe Cooper

Hartford area home and condo sales slowed in April as prospective sellers were likely reluctant to list their homes as cases of COVID-19 mounted nationwide, the Greater Hartford Association of Realtors (GHAR) said Tuesday.

New GHAR data shows there were 504 single-family home sales in Greater Hartford last month, down 14 sales, or 2.7% compared to April 2019. Median prices for homes, meantime, remained strong rising to $257,500, up 7.3% from $240,000 in the same month last year.

Condo sales in April also decreased 19.7% to 106 units, but their median price still rose 13.1%, to $178,500.

The April report follows somewhat surprising homebuying numbers in March, when single-family home sales in the Hartford area rose by nearly 10.2% vs. the year-ago period.

GHAR CEO Holly Callanan said a steady increase in prices indicates that the slowdown in home/condo sales last month is likely a temporary trend. Also, the region recorded an unusually low number of listings last month (new listings decreased by more than 48%, from 1,041 to 537) due to financial uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

But Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors, still cautioned that a decline in sales should be expected into the summer months.

“More temporary interruptions to home sales should be expected in the next couple of months, though home prices will still likely rise,” Yun said.

In 2020, year-over-year sales in Greater Hartford have increased 4.2% to 1,751 from 1,680 a year earlier, and their median price has jumped 9.1% to $245,000 from $224,450.

Condo sales this year have decreased nearly 20% to 106 units, but their median prices rose 13.1%.

Sign up for Enews

Most Recent

Most Recent

0 Comments

Order a PDF