ccording to the Greater Hartford Association of Realtors, the median sales price of a home was up more than 7% in October of this year.
The wild housing market is still going strong as we enter the second winter of this pandemic. But there are some signs that things are stabilizing. According to the Greater Hartford Association of Realtors, the median sales price of a home was up more than 7% in October of this year, from the year before. It rose from about $280,000 to $300,000. Inventory is down nearly 31%.
Alexa Kebalo Hughes, the president of the Greater Hartford Association of Realtors sat down with NBC Connecticut's Dan Corcoran to talk about the latest market news.
Dan: "So Alexa, what kind of trends are you seeing in that region right now?"
Kebalo Hughes: "We had a slowdown towards the end of the summer. And what it's allowed to do is for the market to kind of stabilize to a point where we're not having 20 offers on each property, we're not having the crazy bidding wars that we had six months ago. And given that instead of having the double-digit appreciation, we're settling down to more of a 3% median sale price appreciation over last month. And also what's great about that, Dan, is that it's giving people a chance, a lot of the buyers that were not able to throw their hat in a ring, because there's so much competition, it's really giving them a chance, because it's more of an even market, it's more of an even playing field, which really breeds for more opportunity for everyone."
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Dan: "Are you seeing this more than just in that region right there? Is this happening across Connecticut as a whole?"
Kebalo Hughes: "Yeah, so this is a pretty consistent trend we're seeing throughout the state of Connecticut, and honestly, throughout many areas of the nation, I have colleagues all over the nation all over Connecticut. And it's a very similar story, where many markets have experienced the slowdown. And instead of being such a crazy seller's market, it's more of a neutral market, where again, we're still seeing prices go up. But we're not seeing the crazy amounts of bidding wars and multiple offers, which again, allows more opportunities for buyers and sellers, because it's more of a neutral playing ground."
Dan: "Do you see the housing market returning to what it was pre-pandemic anytime soon?"
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Kebalo Hughes: "No one has a crystal ball. But I'm not seeing that happening. With us having such a crazy market that we did. And in fact, it's common knowledge that a lot of prices are going up for goods and services. So I wouldn't surprise me that that can kind of impact people's purchase power. Because again, it's not just about the home, it's about the lifestyle. Are you willing to go to the top of your budget to purchase the next home, or you're going to be a little more conservative? So I think that's gonna be pushing us a little bit more into that neutral zone as far as the market stabilizing and allowing us to just continue in a more stable manner versus having this crazy double-digit appreciation that we're experiencing earlier this year."
