Wallingford Market Update December 2008

The Wallingford housing market continued its downward slide in December. While there were fewer total listings, sales were down over 25% from November and they took 16% longer to sell, and expired listings were at their highest level in months. The average sales price increased again, but this was again due to sales of new construction and some higher end homes.

Condo sales remain depressed, as only 2 sold for the third consecutive month. The absorption rate took a nosedive, dropping about 33%, and the two condos that did sell managed to sell in about 2 months. These stats still are somewhat misleading since so few condos are selling at the moment. Now that mortgage rates are dropping to 5% and below, this may entice many buyers to test the waters before rates start moving upwards again. We have yet to see much effect, if any, from the Fed’s purchase of mortgage backed securities; hopefully as this program gets into full swing we’ll see some positive movement.

Here’s the comparison of the last three months:

For the purposes of housing market info, it is usually considered to be a seller’s market when there is less than 13 weeks of inventory on the market; 13-26 weeks of inventory is considered a balanced market, and more than 26 weeks indicates a buyer’s market.

Data used was provided by the CTMLS (Connecticut Multiple Listing Service.

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