HUD Issues 4th Quarter 2006 Housing Conditions Report
March 22nd, 2007 categories: Real Estate Market
The Department of Housing and Urban Development just issued its fourth quarter US Housing Market Conditions Report for 2006. I paid the most attention to their regional report, which echoed some of the things I’ve been hearing. Here are some excerpts from the report:
Jobs and Unemployment
The service-providing sectors have added 13,600 new jobs in Connecticut. And, Connecticut continues to show the most improvement in reducing unemployment; its rate fell from an average of 4.9 percent in 2005 to 4.3 percent in 2006.
Home Sales
The Connecticut Association of REALTORS reported total home sales of 74,700 units for the 12 months ending September 2006, down 9 percent from the previous 12-month period. The median sales price was $313,000, relatively unchanged from the previous 12-month period.
Third quarter 2006 median sales prices for homes in Connecticut counties ranged from $496,500 in Fairfield County, also known as the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk metropolitan area, to $188,300 in nonmetropolitan Windham County in northeast Connecticut, down 6 percent and 8 percent, respectively, from third quarter 2005 median sales prices.
The Rental Market
According to Reis, Inc., among the Connecticut markets of Hartford, Fairfield County, and New Haven, only Hartford added to the rental inventory in the fourth quarter of 2006, completing 340 new units, which resulted in 440 units for the full year. The apartment vacancy rate in Hartford at the end of 2006 was 5.0 percent, up from 4.6 percent a year ago.
The average asking rent was $918, up nearly 3 percent from the previous year.Fairfield County had no rental unit completions in 2006; however, almost 800 units were under construction at the end of the year. In addition, 575 condominium units were under construction, some of which may end up in the rental market. More than 700 rental units are projected for completion in the county in 2007, adding pressure to the current 3.2-percent vacancy rate, unchanged from a year ago. Reflecting one of the highest rent levels in the nation, the Fairfield County average asking rent of $1,695 in 2006 was up more than 1 percent from 2005.
