Wallingford Market Update January 2009

The Wallingford housing market showed some signs of life in January. There were fewer listings to sell, sales were up 67% from December and they sold almost 25% quicker, and expired listings were almost half of the previous month. The average sales price decreased, but this was largely due to the absence of the new construction and higher end home sales that were evident in previous months.

Condo sales were again slow in January, with only 1 sold for the entire month. That sale took about 4 months and caused the absorption rate to rise by about 50%, 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. Mortgage rates dropped to historically low levels last month, but that didn’t seem to have much effect on the market. Financing was still hard to get due to stiffer credit score and down payment requirements, and now rates seem to be trending upwards even though the banks are receiving TARP money and bailouts are coming in rapid-fire succession. As we speak, the $15,000 tax credit for homeowners is being debated (and hopefully passed) in Congress, adding more incentive to buyers to move off the fence and start their home search in earnest.

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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