Sales of high-end homes in the Hartford region slipped 34 percent in the first two months of the year, while prices generally held firm, according to the Greater Hartford Association of Realtors.
Seventy-one homes sold for more than $500,000 in January and February in the 57 towns covered by the association, down from 107 in that price range during those months last year.
And while the trend line of dramatic home price increases of recent years appears to have been broken, prices of high-end homes haven’t collapsed.
“The numbers tell us that it’s obviously slowed down,” said Jeffrey Arakelian, the association’s president and CEO. “I think, overall, we’ve seen price appreciation moderate significantly.”
But expensive homes continue to draw buyers, said Curt Clemens Sr., president of Century 21 Clemens & Sons, which operates four suburban locations in West Hartford, Glastonbury, South Windsor and Rocky Hill. He cited the recent sale of a West Hartford home for $629,900, the original asking price, in only eight days.
“I think (high-end homes) are less sensitive to pricing (pressure) than houses in the $200,000-to-$300,000 range,” said Clemens, whose firm sold boxer Mike Tyson’s home four years ago to rapper 50 Cent.
He acknowledged that in today’s market, homes priced above $1 million “are going to take a long time to sell.”
In 2007, 430 properties in Hartford County sold for $600,000 or more — with the most expensive home going for $3.2 million to Eileen Dadlez, wife of Christopher Dadlez, CEO of Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center.
That’s according to data obtained from The Warren Group, the Boston-based publisher of the Commercial Record, which compiled the statistics.
For his purchase price, Dadlez landed a 20-year-old, five-bedroom, nine-bath home in Simsbury.
Avon Leads Pack
The county’s second most expensive home sold last year went for a little more than $3 million in Avon. And the third priciest sale, at $2.5 million, went for a 41-year-old, three-bedroom, three-bath home in Berlin.
The Berlin property was one of only three homes in that town that sold for more than $600,000 last year.
Simsbury had much stronger representation, with 43 high-price sales — eight of which sold for more than $1 million. Avon was the expensive home leader in 2007, with 79 sales over $600,000, 17 of which were priced over $1 million.
Other top selling towns in the county included Glastonbury and South Glastonbury, with a combined total of 69 sales over $600,000. Five of those properties sold for more than $1 million.
West Hartford had 56 such sales, 11 of which brought in more than $1 million. Bloomfield reported 30 big-ticket sales, while Farmington had 53, 15 of which sold for more than $1 million.
Hartford itself recorded 12 sales of more than $600,000 last year, including one house built in 1913 with six bedrooms and six baths that brought in $925,000.
Several other towns boasted fewer than 10 sales of more than $600,000, including South Windsor with nine, Rocky Hill with six, Manchester with two and Newington with one.
Big Ticket Homes Unusual
“In some areas, upper-end homes do OK, but it’s a very small percentage (of total sales),” said Norman Krayem, immediate past president of the Connecticut Association of Realtors. “The market isn’t bad, but prices are down, and so are sales.”
Krayem declined to comment on trends for high-priced homes sales in the region, but he said he is expecting a “good spring” in the real estate market.
“Consumer confidence has been hurt — particularly, in my opinion, by the national media,” said Arakelian. “It’s a great time to buy.”
