November 9th, 2012 2:36 PM by Brian Banak
A Tale of Two Markets
Recently, there has been a lot of press about improving Real Estate markets where prices are rising. These are national statistics that aren't relevant to what is going on locally. The volume of sales has been up each and every month in 2012 as compared to 2011. However, this hasn't led to price increases. The local real estate market is both strong and weak depending on what segment of the market you are looking at. The chart below shows the months supply of homes on the market for 8 towns in North Central Connecticut as of October 2012. It is split for homes priced less than $300,000 and for homes priced greater than $300,000.
Less than $300,000 Greater than $300,000
Suffield 5.2 13.5
Enfield 5.6 50.4
Windsor Locks 5.5 13.7
East Windsor 7.8 27.2
Somers 11 22.4
East Granby 8.3 16.4
Granby 5.5 14.5
Windsor 5.3 11
According to the National Association of Realtors, a balanced market has a 6 month supply of homes. Less than a 6 month supply indicates a shortage of available homes and can lead to rising prices. By looking at the data above, it is clear that in most towns in North Central Connecticut, the market for homes with asking prices less than $300,000 has stabilized. The supply and demand for homes is balanced. For homes priced over $300,000 it is a different story altogether. All of the 8 towns listed above have a supply of homes far in excess of 6 months (balanced market) and likely will be experiencing continued price declines in the months ahead.
Stay tuned...