The second quarter saw modest gains in home sales in Connecticut, according to the ""Warren Group"":http://www.thewarrengroup.com/.
[IMAGE]Second-quarter sales of single-family homes totaled 6,898, a nearly 1 percent increase over Q2 2012. In June alone, home sales were up 0.4 percent (the second straight month of increases) to a total of 2,602. According to the group, it was the best month for sales since last August, which saw 2,639 transactions.
Year-to-date, home sales statewide were 10,947, down about 1 percent.
""The housing market in Connecticut continues to show slow growth,"" said Warren Group CEO Timothy M. Warren Jr. ""As long as mortgage rates and home prices don't spike too high, we'll see a very steady recovery year for the market in 2013.""
[COLUMN_BREAK]Year-over-year, home prices were up 5.6 percent in June to a statewide median of $283,000--the highest median price for any month since August 2008. The year-to-date median sale price was $255,000, up more than 8.5 percent from the first six months of last year. Compared to the second quarter of 2012, Q2 2013 prices rose more than 8 percent to $269,000.
""Buyers have become more active in the spring selling season, which is creating modest upward pressure on prices. While not a problem at this juncture, I hope for more modest increases in the future,"" Warren said. ""Unlike other parts of the country, Connecticut has not seen double digit increases in median prices. This is healthy. Keeping housing affordable while prices rise gradually will avoid the kind of housing bubble we saw seven or eight years ago.""
On the condo side, sales increased 2 percent year-over-year in June, with second-quarter sales rising 2.5 percent compared to the same three months in 2012. Year-to-date, condo sales increased almost 1 percent compared to last year.
The median sale price of condos also rose in June. According to the Warren Group, the median selling price was $176,000, up more than 7.6 percent year-over-year. The second-quarter median price was $175,000 (up more than 8 percent), while the year-to-date price was $168,000 (up more than 5 percent).