FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Editorial Contact:
Aglaia Pikounis
The Warren Group
(617) 896-5370
apikounis@thewarrengroup.com
May Home Sales Slide 18.5% in Connecticut;
Number of Distressed Home Sales Grows
Median Prices, Condos Fall By Double-Digits
BOSTON, June 29, 2009 – The number of bank-owned property sales in Connecticut has jumped significantly to nearly 6 percent of single-family home sales transactions so far in 2009 compared to just 1 percent last year, according to The Warren Group, publisher of The Commercial Record.
Single-family home sales in Connecticut dropped 18.5 percent to 1,865 in May from 2,289 in May 2008. A total of 6,945 single-family homes sold from January through May, down 24.2 percent from 9,157 during the same months last year. Of the single-family home sales recorded through May, 397 involved a bank or other lending institution, according to The Warren Group. During the same months last year, only 105 single-family home sales were of bank-owned properties.
“The sale of foreclosed homes has become a larger share of the residential real estate market in Connecticut. Still, those sales haven’t helped to boost the state’s housing market because sales in May were anemic,” said Timothy M. Warren Jr., CEO of The Warren Group. “In the late 1990s and into the early part of this century, Connecticut was averaging over 3,500 single-family home sales during the month of May. Last month, we had fewer than 1,900 home sales, making it the slowest sales pace for the month of May since we started tracking changes in real estate sales in 1987.”
The median price for single-family homes slipped 12.5 percent to $238,000 from $272,000 last May. The year-to-date median price retreated 15.1 percent to $227,500 from $268,000 a year earlier.
Monthly home prices have been declining by double-digit percentages year-over-year in 2009, but May’s 12.5 percent decline was the smallest so far this year.
The steepest declines in median home prices so far this year have been in Fairfield and Litchfield counties. In Fairfield County, the year-to-date median home price plummeted 22.2 percent to $397,000 from $510,000. In Litchfield County, the median price for homes sold through May sank 20.6 percent to $206,500 from $260,000.
Statewide condominium sales plunged 39.2 percent to 531 from 873 in May 2008. Year-to-date condo sales dropped 40.5 percent to 2,080 from 3,497 during the first five months of last year.
The median selling price for condos in May was $170,200 – a 14.9 percent decrease from $199,900 a year earlier. The year-to-date median condo price fell 12.5 percent to $174,000 from $198,900.
Complete statistics for cities and towns available to members of the media by request.
About The Warren Group
The Warren Group, based in Boston, is the publisher of Banker & Tradesman, The Commercial Record and a series of association publications. As the premier provider of real estate data in New England, The Warren Group offers a range of real estate products and services for professionals and consumers searching for real estate and financial information. For more information about The Warren Group, please visit www.thewarrengroup.com or call 800-356-8805.