Connecticut sales of foreclosed houses comprise a greater share of home sales than a year ago, dampening demand for other dwellings in May, The Warren Group said today.
The number of bank-owned property sales in Connecticut has jumped to nearly 6 percent of single-family home sales so far in 2009 compared to just 1 percent last year, the Boston-based publisher of The Commercial Record said.
Single-family sales dropped 18.5 percent to 1,865 in May from 2,289 in May 2008. Through the first five months of this year, 6,945 homes were sold, down 24.2 percent from 9,157 during the same period last year.
Of the single-family home sales recorded through May, 397 involved a bank or other lending institution, according to 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 CEO Timothy M. Warren Jr.
Connecticut’s 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, Warren Group reported.
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, Warren Group said. 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.
