Realtors provided somber evidence Monday that Hartford’s housing market lost some steam in July due to the expiration of the federal homebuyers’ tax credit program weeks earlier. But higher housing sales prices gave them some cheer.
Single-family house sales fell 49 percent to 544 in July from 1,068 the same month last year, according to the Greater Hartford Association of Realtors.
Houses where the owner has a contract to sell but has not yet closed the deal also dropped 25 percent to 671 last month from 898 in July 2009, the association said.
But the good news is that single-family houses that reached closing in July sold for a median price of $252,550, $10,000 more than the same month a year ago.
Condo sales, as is typical, fell off by a steeper percentage than home sales in July – dropping 60 percent to 119 units sold vs. 297 last year, the Realtors group said.
However, condo prices mirrored the median price increases for houses, climbing 4.8 percent to $175,000 from $167,000 in July 2009.
But Hartford area Realtors share the recent optimism expressed by their statewide counterparts that record low mortgage rates will spark a resurgence in housing demand and sales, said GHAR CEO Jeff Arakelian.
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