SALES STATISTICS AND MORTGAGE RATES

06.04.09

Statistics for real estate sales in Connecticut are out for the 1st quarter of the year. Here are some results as received, both for Connecticut as a whole and our Litchfield County area.

For all of 2008, there were 22,603 single family home sales throughout Connecticut; for the 1st quarter of 2009, there were only 2,810 in the entire state. The total $ volume in 2008 was $9,852,670,535. For the 1st quarter of 2009, it was $719,648,832. The median Sale Price for 2008 was $379,063; it was $290,000 for the 1st quarter of 2009. All the above is for the single family homes category.

If the pace of transactions does not pick up, you can see that there would be a significant decline in activity over the entire 2009 year. Disturbing, but not surprising as long as the economy stays "suppressed".

Adding to some uncertainty about a real estate recovery is the rise of long term interest rates which occurred at the end of last week, and might continue their upward creep, or not. Short term rates seem stable, but the long term rate movement reflects some concern about inflation which has not, as yet, raised its "head". Rates are still very low and would have to go considerably higher to dampen real estate sales than they are, but other than news blips about it, all we can do is wait and watch for buyers. It still is a good time to buy.

©2009 R. Leech features.