Connecticut statewide sales of single-family homes fell 13.3 percent while the median sales price increased 2.5 percent in the second quarter compared to second-quarter 2005, according to Boston-based The Warren Group, a real estate data company.
The Warren Group reported that 10,543 single-family homes sold in second-quarter 2006 and the median price of single-family homes was $279,900 for the quarter.
The drop in year-over-year second-quarter sales follows an 11.2 percent year-over-year decline in the first quarter of 2006 and a 14 percent decline in fourth-quarter 2005.
Condominium unit sales, which dropped 5.3 percent in the first quarter compared to the prior year’s quarter, dropped 11.6 percent in the quarter, year-over-year, with the median sales price of condos rising 1.1 percent to $190,000 in the second quarter compared to second-quarter 2005.
Timothy Warren Jr., CEO for The Warren Group, said in a statement, “The 10-year run-up in both prices and sales is over, and now we’re entering a period of stability where unit sales are leveling off and prices might start declining a bit. We’re definitely seeing a correction in the market, but it seems to be a mild correction and not the bursting bubble that many have been predicting.”
Connecticut has not yet experienced the year-over-year price declines that have afflicted markets in Massachusetts, according to the announcement. Warren said he expects single-family home and condo sale prices will fall by a few percentage points in the third and fourth quarters, and then level off in 2007.
“Connecticut is on a curve similar to Massachusetts, but perhaps a little behind the curve,” Warren said.
For the second straight quarter, New Haven County registered the state’s largest year-over-year median price increase in single-family home sales. The county’s median sale price rose 9.1 percent to $259,900, while Litchfield County’s median sale price remained flat at $251,000. Other counties saw prices rise between 1 percent and 8 percent.
Each of Connecticut’s eight counties saw single-family home sales fall during the quarter, with Fairfield’s 23 percent drop at the bottom end of the scale and Hartford’s 1.8 percent drop at the top.
Tolland (15.5 percent), Windham (4.4 percent) and Litchfield (1 percent) were the only three counties to post condo sales increases during the quarter, The Warren Group reported, with Fairfield suffering the biggest decline (19.4 percent). Windham (10.6 percent) and Middlesex counties (3.6 percent) posted condo median sale price increases, while New London County registered the biggest gain: 18.2 percent, to $185,000 from $156,500 the year before.
The Warren Group, based in Boston, publishes Banker & Tradesman and The Commercial Record, among other publications.
