Sales of Connecticut houses started the year off strong with prices also showing improvement from a year ago, a regional housing survey shows.
There were 1,277 single-family units sold in the state in January, up 19.5 percent from the 1,069 sold the same month in 2009, according to Boston data publisher The Warren Group. It was the fourth straight monthly increase.
Meanwhile, the median price of an existing home climbed 6.2 percent in January to $238,000 from $225,000, Warren Group said.
“Connecticut’s housing market has been steadily improving over the last several months. January was the third straight month that sales increased year-over-year by double-digit percentages,” said Timothy M. Warren Jr., CEO of the publisher of The Commercial Record. “Still, the big unknown is whether home sales will continue to increase when the homebuyer tax credit expires and the Federal Reserve stops purchasing mortgage-backed securities.”
Fairfield County led the state with significant gains in sales volume and prices, Warren said. The county’s home sales surged almost 60 percent in January to 352 from 222 a year earlier. The median home price shot up 30 percent to $485,000 from $373,500.
Hartford County was the only area of the state to see prices dip in January. The median home price slipped 4.7 percent to $200,000 from $209,900 in January 2009.
Like single-family home sales, Connecticut condo sales grew in January, Warren Group said. Sales jumped 12.5 percent to 395 from 351 in January 2009, marking four straight months of double-digit percentage increases in year-over-year sales.
The median condo price in January, $185,000, was unchanged from a year earlier.
