Region's home sales drop less steeply in September

CT Foreclosure & Real Estate News

By Lee Howard 

After 12 consecutive double-digit percentage declines in monthly Connecticut single-family real estate sales, the market seemed to steady itself in September, showing only a 5.3 percent drop in sales from the previous year, according to a new report.

Of course, the previous September had resulted in a nearly 22 percent decline in statewide single-family sales, so it seems reasonable to expect a slowing in such precipitous drops, experts said. And median home prices continued to decline in September, falling in New London County by more than 8.6 percent, or $22,500, to $237,500, according to the report.

”The moderate slide in home sales in September compared to earlier monthly declines doesn't necessarily mean that the state's housing market is heading toward a recovery,” said Timothy Warren, chief executive of The Warren Group, which conducted the sales survey.

Warren said foreclosures, layoffs and financial failures of major companies “are all weighing heavily on homebuyers' minds and will affect pricing and sales in the future.”

But John Bolduc, executive vice president of the Norwich-based Eastern Connecticut Association of Realtors, said he is sticking to his prediction that the local market will bounce back in the second quarter of next year.

”We are at or very close to the bottom of the market,” Bolduc said. “It's a great time to buy.”

In previous months, home-sale declines had ranged from 16.3 to 32.8 percent, according to The Warren Group, publisher of The Commercial Record. The year-to-date sales slump for the state still sits at 24.5 percent, the organization noted, with New London County off nearly 27.4 percent.

Condominium sales continued their slump as well, off nearly 30 percent statewide in September when compared to a year earlier and nearly 33 percent year-to-date. Still, condo prices have not seen the declines of single-family homes, and are off only 3.2 percent so far this year in New London County, with the median price just a bit under $180,000.

Bolduc, the local real estate executive, said some of the local sales slump could be tied to the national media, which have given the impression that homebuyers need to have perfect credit and be able to put down 20 percent of the purchase price to be able to get a loan.

The truth is that banks are eager to lend money, he said, and Federal Housing Administration, Connecticut Housing Finance Authority and Veterans Administration programs allow homebuyers with little to put down to purchase a house.

In addition, first-time homebuyers will be getting a $7,500 tax credit this year that is repayable over an interest-free, 15-year period. The National Realtors Association is trying to talk Congress into finding a way to avoid a tax-credit payback and is asking that all new homeowners - whether first-time or not - receive a tax credit.

Bolduc said now may be the time to buy a home, since choices abound and mortgage rates are low. Once the market picks up, perhaps next spring, both rates and prices likely will move higher, he said.

”Housing is the best investment anyone can make for the long term,” he said.

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