January single-family home sales in Connecticut saw the largest year-over-year decline since the Great Recession in January 2009, according to the latest report from the Warren Group, publisher of the Commercial Record.
January single-family home sales totaled 1,835 transactions, a 14.5-percent decrease from January 2018 when there were 2,145 transactions. This marked the largest year-over-year decline for the month of January since 2009, when sales fell 35.3 percent on the same basis. Meanwhile, the median price of a single-family home fell 0.4 percent on a year-over-year basis to $235,000, compared with $236,000 in January 2018.
“Last year the number of home sales fell in nine of 12 months and for the entire year sales fell by 1.9 percent,” said Warren Group CEO Timothy Warren. “However, no month in 2018 had a decline approaching the 14.5-percent decline that we saw last month. Homeowners and prospective buyers are standing fast with their current living quarters.”
Condominium sales in Connecticut also experienced a notable decline, falling 17.6 percent on a year-over-year basis, with 519 transactions. On the same basis, the median sale price for condos increased 2 percent to $153,000 – the highest price for the month of January since 2015.
Report: N.H. industrial market continued upward swing in 2018
The greater New Haven industrial real-estate market performed positively in 2018. So says a new region-wide commercial real-estate report, 2019 New England Real Estate Market, issued annually by the real-estate firm CBRE Inc.
Consistent positive absorption in recent years has helped to drive the vacancy rate down to the historic low of 8.1 percent that it recorded at the close of 2018, CBRE reported.
In addition, strong leasing and sales activity were in evidence throughout the year, as both end users and real estate investors continued to express interest in the New Haven region’s industrial market.
Among the most notable industrial deals of the year:
• NYC-based SKY Investment Group acquired a large portfolio from New York Life Insurance Co. This included 160 Corporate Court and 550 Research Parkway in Meriden, as well as 611-617 West Johnson Avenue in Cheshire, totaling almost 800,000 square feet.
• Meriden-based Accel Industries acquired the 175,000-square-foot former Alexion Pharmaceuticals facility in Cheshire from Winstanley Enterprises for $4.78 million.
• BYK-Chemie made a long-term commitment to North Haven by leasing 130,000 square feet from Boston-based Calare Properties at 33 Stiles Lane, where the Wallingford-based company said it planned to consolidate warehouse operations from other parts of the country.
• Dragone Classic Motorcars relocated from Fairfield County and leased 65,000 square feet at 5 Connair Drive in Orange.
For 2019, the greatest challenge facing the New Haven industrial market, according to CBRE: lack of larger existing functional industrial facilities and available building land.
Contact Michael C. Bingham at mbingham@newhavenbiz.com
