Liz Teare, a Realtor with William Raveis in West Hartford, says she has never seen inventory so low in her 17 years selling homes in the greater Hartford area.

By Will Herring, CTNewsJunkie.com 

Sean Bradbury left San Diego for Connecticut in 2020 looking to purchase his first home. Finally in a position to build equity at age 31, Bradbury says the market in Connecticut right now is just too hot to enter.

Bradbury, who is renting in Hartford, said his experiences thus far have been marked by New York buyers purchasing homes with all-cash offers, outbidding him immediately. According to Bradbury, he has yet to see anyone pay the asking price.

Aishwarya Kumar has also struggled to find a suitable place to purchase in the greater Hartford area. A 27-year-old staff writer at ESPN, Kumar covers the intersection of sports, politics, identity and immigration.

Like many first-time buyers entering the market in a pandemic, she is seeking a home with adequate space for work. She said she craves an exclusive workspace, envisioning a future where it is not necessary to go into the office each day.

“It’s such a gamble,” Kumar said, describing why it is so difficult to get a house under the current market conditions.

At the moment, multiple buyers are making offers on homes within hours or days of being listed.

Real estate experts say the status of the market in Connecticut is based on the pandemic.

The price of homes here continues to rise as first-time buyers are entering an increasingly challenging market, according to real estate agents. While demand grows, buyers are having to adjust to a rapidly changing economy.

The state has become an escape for families and individuals fleeing the congestion of cities amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Liz Teare, a Realtor with William Raveis in West Hartford, says she has never seen inventory so low in her 17 years selling homes in the greater Hartford area. She says low inventory is driving competition between buyers whether they are looking for their first homes or more established buyers.

According to the Greater Hartford Association of Realtors, the median sale price of a single-family home rose from $230,000 in February 2020 to $280,000 this year. Meanwhile, the state’s inventory of homes for sale decreased 52% over the same period.

Diane McAdams, president of Greater Hartford Association of Realtors, says the ongoing housing price increases can push first-time buyers out of the market and force them to wait longer to save more money for their downpayments. She said this will create competition between first-time buyers looking for homes in their price range and more established buyers willing to pay above asking price for a property.

Republished with permission from CTNewsJunkie.com, all rights reserved.

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