via CT Insider

By Ginny Monk | Published on November 4, 2021

Although they were still above pre-pandemic levels, the number of residential real estate sales in much of Connecticut was substantially lower last month than in 2020, a new report shows.

October 2020 was a “month of record sales,” when buyers moved out of New York City during the pandemic, according to a report released this week from William Pitt-Julia B. Fee Sotheby’s International Realty.

Many sought more space during lockdowns and others tried to get out of the city as COVID case numbers spiked. This migration has continued for months, although at a slower rate, experts said.

“It was a lifetime year, a career year. It was the highest the bar has ever been,” said Paul Breunich, president and chief executive officer at Sotheby’s International.

The rise in number of buyers paired with low housing stock caused significant price increases nationwide. Connecticut was among the states that saw higher rises, federal data show.

“We’re still seeing multiple offers, we still have more buyers than we have sellers at this point,” said Tammy Felenstein, president-elect of the Connecticut Association of Realtors.

Fairfield County, which has been particularly affected by housing price hikes, saw a 35 percent drop in the number of closed sales in October — 858 — compared to the same month last year. But it also saw the largest increase in sales compared to 2019, at 23 percent.

In October 2019, Fairfield County had 698 house sales. In October 2020, there were 1,329, according to the report.

The county’s proximity to New York City has made it desirable for many in the people moving out to areas where they can get more space, although Connecticut counties farther from the city have also seen the migration, Breunich said.

“There’s a migration that has shifted from the cities back to the suburbs and I think remote working is the big wild card,” he said.

The largest drops were in Middlesex and Litchfield counties, at 39 percent each. Both also saw small increases from 2019 — 2 percent and 7 percent, respectively.

The only county to see drops compared to 2019 was New London County, which had a 5 percent decrease, the report says.

The report examines sales in the real estate firm’s territory, including parts of New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut. It excludes Tolland and Windham counties in Connecticut.

Inventory is also lower than this time last year.

Every county saw drops in the amount of inventory in October, compared to 2020 and 2019. Fairfield County’s was the largest, at a 54 percent decrease — from 5,327 in 2019 to 2,432 in October.

“We’re still desperate for more inventory,” Felenstein said.

Part of the issue is that people have been hesitant to put their houses on the market because they don’t know where they’re going to go, Breunich said.

The costs of construction materials have also been elevated during the pandemic, slowing the building of new homes in many cases, experts have said.

Felenstein cautioned that one month of data — even when compared to the same months in years past, doesn’t constitute a trend.

“If we see this continue over the next two months, and we see a full quarter with the decreases, then I think we’re looking at a trend,” she said.