Connecticut’s single-family housing market in 2008 experienced the sharpest declines in single-family home sales and median home prices in about 20 years, according to Boston publisher The Warren Group.
Single-family home sales in Connecticut fell 23.7 percent in 2008 compared to the prior year, while the median price for a single-family home retreated 9.2 percent from 2007, according to The Warren Group. Those were the steepest yearly drops ever recorded by The Warren Group, which started tracking Connecticut’s residential real estate market in 1988.
“Single-family home sales have been declining for four years now, but this is the first time that median home prices have dropped since the mid-1990s,” said Timothy M. Warren Jr., CEO of The Warren Group, publisher of The Commercial Record. “Before last year, Connecticut had avoided the price slumps that neighboring Massachusetts and Rhode Island witnessed. But with sales activity in Connecticut plunging by double-digit percentages nearly every month in 2008, it was inevitable that prices would have to give.”
A total of 24,721 single-family homes were sold in 2008, down from 32,384 in 2007. Last year’s sales pace for single-family homes was the slowest since 1991, when 23,669 home sales were recorded. In December, single-family home sales fell 19.5 percent to 1,647 from 2,045 in December 2007.
The median selling price of single-family homes dipped to a four-year low, reaching $268,000 in 2008 compared to $295,000 in 2007. December’s median home price tumbled 14.8 percent to $230,000 from $270,000 in December 2007.
“Last year’s price drop was more moderate than what occurred in other parts of New England. In Massachusetts and Rhode Island, median single-family home prices were off 11.6 and 13.2 percent, respectively,” Warren said.
Connecticut’s condominium market also endured the biggest percentage declines in prices and sales since 1990. A total of 8,657 condos were sold in 2008, a 33.2 percent decrease from 12,962 in 2007. Last year was the first year that condo sales fell below 10,000 since 1997. During the month of December, condo sales plummeted 32 percent to 551 from 810 in December 2007.
The median condo price slipped 4.2 percent to $196,500 from $205,000 in 2007. December’s median condo price was $175,000 – 10.3 percent lower than the $195,000 median price in December 2007.Â
