Home sale prices in Greater Hartford got a welcome bump up in October amid slower sales, and the outlook for the rest of the year also indicates slower home purchasing.
The median sale price of a single-family house — where half the sales are above, half below — was $247,500 in October, up 3.1% from $240,000 for the same month a year ago, according to the monthly report from the Greater Hartford Association of Realtors, an industry group. The association tracks 27 towns in the area.
In October, sales fell 3.2% compared with the same month a year ago.
Pending sales in October fell 3.6% on a year-over-year basis, indicating slower sales for the rest of the year. New listings also fell 2.1% compared with a year earlier, and inventory — the number of properties on market — fell 10% below the levels of a year ago.
Holly Callahan, the association's chief executive, said she wasn't surprised by the slowdown, given the time of year. She did note that homes remain affordable.
Through the first 10 months of the year, the median sale price of a single-family house has barely budged, up less than one-half of 1%, to $247,000, from $246,000 for the same period in 2018. Sales rose 2.6%.
In the smaller condominium market, the median sale price in October rose 4.4%, to $177,500, from $170,000 a year ago, on a 9.5% drop in sales.
Through October, the median sale price in the condo market inched up 1.8%, to $164,900, from $162,000, on a gain in sales of just under 1%.
The median sale price is a well-watched indicator of changes in sale prices and trends affecting property values. But it doesn't necessarily mean all home prices and values, for that matter, are moving in the same direction.
