Our office has just posted statistics for the third quarter of 2012, which we get from the Connecticut Multiple Listing Service, and it shows that activity is definitely improving. Sales are up almost 18% from last year, and there is increased movement in almost every town.
The median sales price was down by nearly 2%, which should caution sellers not to be greedy. Connecticut is ranked 46th in terms of price recovery from the depths of the recession. In addition, there are so many homes on the market that the absorption rate stretches out for a couple of years. For example, Guilford and Madison each have about 400 homes on the market, and each has seen about 175 sell this year so far. That means that it would take almost two years at the current rate until all properties are sold.
Now, that's more pessimistic than it ought to be. As with all markets, there are properties on the MLS that are overpriced or in poor condition or in bad locations, and many of those will expire without selling. That means that good properties, well priced, should move fairly quickly, at least in comparison to the past few years. It won't happen as quickly in the higher price ranges, because it's harder to price and market homes over a million, and there have only been about five more that have sold this year (64 in all).
In all categories, though, days on market (DOM) have declined, and market speed has increased. For a complete report, go to www.hpearce.com.
