Single-family home sales fell sharply in Connecticut during February, according to the latest data from The Warren Group, a Massachusetts-based real estate information firm.
The total number of homes sold in the state last month was 1,606, a 6.3% decline from February 2018. Last month's single-family home sales were at their lowest level for a February since 2015.
The median sale price for single-family homes also was off significantly in February, hitting a three-year-low for that particular month. The median sale price last month was $224,000, a 5.1% or $12,000 decrease compared to February 2018.
"Single-family home sales have declined on a year-over-year basis for seven straight months and 13 of the past 15 months," Timothy Warren, chief executive officer of The Warren Group, said in a written statement. "Clearly, the market has softened despite a low unemployment rate and a good economy."
Condominium sales took a tumble in February, decreasing 4.6% compared to the same period a year ago. Despite the decline in sales, the median sale price for condominiums remained unchanged at $145,000.
Warren said although only 475 condominiums were sold in Connecticut last month, the decrease in that type of transaction shouldn't be a cause for concern.
"The level of activity we saw isn't unusual for the month of February," Warren said. "In fact, the last time we saw more than 500 condo transactions in February was more than 10 years ago in 2008."
Donald Klepper-Smith, chief economist and director of research for New Haven-based DataCore Partners, said Connecticut's real estate market is being driven by the state's dismal employment numbers. Connecticut is the only New England state that hasn't recovered all of the jobs it lost in the 2008 recession.
"You're not going to get traction in the local housing market without traction in the labor markets," Klepper-Smith said. "The labor markets sets the tone for consumers. And as people lose value in their homes, it affects consumption patterns in the near term."
Consumers curb their spending by seven cents for every dollar that is lost in their home value, Klepper-Smith said.
The number of single-family home sales in New Haven County last month was down by 5.1 percent while the February median sale price decreased by 2.2%, or $4,000, to $197,000. Condominium sales in New Haven County were down 9.8% in February, while the median sale price for the units that were sold declined by 5.3%, or $6,500, to $115,500.
