The Hartford County real estate market took a small step in the direction of normal in July. Single-family home sales continued to be high, with just over 1,000 contracts signed, but inventory levels inched upwards during the month to give buyers more options to consider.
Although the chart above shows a trend for 2021 that looks more like 2019 than 2020, the market is still incredibly active. We are currently on a 5 month streak of exceeding 1,000 contracts. Our process for reporting deals had never observed more than 3 months in a row until the 6 month streak that began in May 2020 in reaction to the pandemic. This year’s sales pace is well above 2019, which is the last “normal” year in the books.
Inventory continues to be the limiting factor for the market. The County stepped up to about 0.9 months worth of supply, meaning that at the current pace of sales it would take 0.9 months for buyers to purchase all the current listings at the recent pace of deals. A market is generally considered a “seller’s market” if there is less than 3 months of inventory, so there clearly continues to be more buyer demand than seller supply.
Deals from the spring, when the market was even more competitive, have been closing and locking in the final prices. They are causing home values to rise, and encouraging current and future sellers to set their asking prices a little bit higher than they might have a year ago.
We have observed some price reductions over the past month or so, suggesting that there is a limit to what buyers are willing to pay. This is a trend that we will continue to monitor through the fall.
