Peggy Chirico, REALTOR® 860-748-8900 Hartford & Tolland County Real Estate

Manchester CT Market Report for January 2012

The new year is here, and we are all anxious to see how the real estate market will be. In 2011 in Manchester CT, we saw a decrease in both total closed sales and median price. The big question now is: Will 2012 be a better year for real estate?

In Manchester CT, we are starting off with positive results for both number of closed sales, median price, average price, and list price/sales price ratio.

Here is the short view:

So overall, the results show that for January 2012 there was:

• 15% increase in closed sales
• 1.5% increase in median price
• .01% increase in average price
• 2.1% increase in median LP/SP ratio
• 4.95% increase in average LP/SP ratio

There was also 49.1% increase in the median days on market and a 43.75% increase in the average days on market, so it is clearly taking longer to sell homes in Manchester CT. With the active listings at 214 properties, 41 homes under contract, and 30 homes under deposit, the absorption rate is 14.25 months, supporting that it takes longer to sell homes in Manchester CT at this time. With the spring market almost here and the large number of properties that will close in the near future, it will be interesting to see how the absorption rate changes over the next few months.

If you are looking for a home in Manchester CT, there are many great homes on the market. You can what is available below; you can also customize your search by changing the criteria. If you would like your own individualized search, please contact me and I will be glad to set you up for automatic emails.

Bolton CT was one of the few towns that defied the trend of slumping sales in 2011 compared to 2010. In fact, Bolton CT showed stunning results in both closed sales and median price. In 2011, there were 49 closed sales compared to 35 closed sales in 2010. That's a 40% increase over the previous year.

The median price showed just as positive results; the median price in 2011 was $275,000 compared with a median price of $207,900 in 2010, which is a 24.4% increase.

Bolton did not show the huge surge in sales as a result of the homebuyers' tax credit that other towns showed. Sales fell off after the 6/30/10 deadline, whereas the last half of 2011 showed several peak months.

Maybe word is getting out that Bolton is a beautiful small town and a great place to live. If you would like information about Bolton CT or if you would like to find out what is on the market, give me a call. I would be glad to help.

East Hartford CT was a busy market for real estate sales in 2011, but not quite as active as in 2010. According to MLS data, there were 307 closed sales in 2011 compared to 343 in 2010. In addition, the median price dropped to $144,000 in 2011 from $155,000 in 2010. That's a 7.1% decrease in median price and 10.5% drop in closed sales.

Here is a look at the closed sales by month:

As was typical for many markets, East Hartford showed a surge in activity in the months before the expiration of the homebuyers' tax credits on June 30, 2010. This activity could not be matched in 2011, but from July through the end of the year, 2011 generally outpaced the same months of 2010, showing a more optimistic trend. There are plenty of bargains to be had in East Hartford, and buyers seemed to be taking advantage of that.

To see what is available in East Hartford CT today, search for East Hartford CT real estate here. You can change your criteria to find the perfect match for you.

South Windsor CT real estate sales during 2011 showed a fairly typical picture of the ups and downs of the market. As was the case with many towns in Connecticut, South Windsor's closed sales and median price were down from the previous year. In 2011, there were 195 closed sales compared to 202 closed sales in 2010; the median price was $254,900 in 2011 vs. $274,450 in 2010. So closed sales were down 3.47% while median price was down 7.12%.

If we look at the average price ($294,398 in 2011 vs. $296,397 in 2010), the difference was .8%. Why consider both median and average prices? The median price simply places all the values in order and selects the one in the middle, whereas the average takes the numerical average. One high-priced home will bring up the average significantly, but it won't affect the median price. So an average price provides an indication of the breadth of home values, whereas a median price tells you which home value was in the middle. It is important to look at both average and median prices, as well as which homes actually sold.

Here is a comparison of the number of closed sales by month for 2010 and 2011 in South Windsor CT:

As in just about every other town, South Windsor showed a surge in closed sales in June 2010, which was the deadline for the homebuyers' tax credits. But from July through September of 2011, closed sales beat out the prior year, and then once again dipped below 2010 levels.

While there are plenty of sour notes in the real estate market in general, South Windsor fared well overall, posting a minor decrease in closed sales over the prior year, a modest decrease in median price, and virtually no change in average price.

2011 Year in Review ~ Manchester CT

2011 has closed and the real estate analysis has been done. By most accounts 2011 was a worse year than 2010, but let's take a look at what actually happened in Manchester CT in 2011.

During 2011, there were 321 closed sales with a median price of $169,000. Both number of closed sales and median price were down from the previous year, which posted 358 closed sales with a median price of $185,000. So median price decreased by 8.65% and the number of closed sales decreased by 10.3%.

If we look at average sale price, which was $188,808 in 2011 vs. $201,788 in 2010, we see that the average price decreased by 6.43%.

Here is a look at 2010 and 2011 closed sales by month:

As you can see, there was quite a bit of variability among months. Remember that the home-buyer tax credits expired in June 2010 so we saw a surge of activity in the months preceding the deadline. We also saw a surge in June 2011 because the real estate conveyance tax was set to increase on 7/1/11.

We don't have any incentives on the horizon, unless you count the very low mortgage rates we have been enjoying, so we will have to wait to see how 2012 turns out. Going forward, I will be reporting both the average sale price and the median sale price.