By Cara Baruzzi, Register Business Editor
cbaruzzi@newhavenregister.com

Single-family home sales in Greater New Haven jumped 20 percent in the second quarter of the year, compared with a year ago, but that reflected the final weeks of federal homebuyer tax credits that have since expired and won’t provide similar boosts going forward.

According to H. Pearce Real Estate in North Haven, which tracks home sales in 29 area towns, 1,578 single-family homes sold in the region in the second quarter, up from 1,312 in the second quarter of 2009.

“Second-quarter results were dominated by the waning days of the homebuyer tax credit. People were rushing to close in time to take advantage of it, and so we saw a boost over what normal sales would have been,” said Barbara Pearce, company president.

Federal tax credits for first-time and repeat buyers have expired. Though an extension gives buyers until Sept. 30 to complete their purchases, they had to have a binding sales contract by April 30, meaning many of those deals closed in the second quarter. Home sale figures include only deals that have closed.

Pearce said sales numbers took “a big drop, as many had feared, beginning in May. Buyers still seem hesitant to make moves, and that may not change until the economy recovers more, and the stock market stops swinging up and down.”

The Greater New Haven community with the most sales in the second quarter was Hamden, with 138. The town’s median sale price was $220,000 last quarter, down from $228,000 a year earlier.

Throughout the region, median prices slid an average of 1.3 percent from $301,384 a year ago to $297,584 in the second quarter, according to the H. Pearce data.

When shown comparable properties, which have either sold or are on the market, sellers are increasingly willing to carefully consider their listing prices, said Andy Stephens, a Realtor at Page Taft Real Estate in Guilford.

“They’re getting more and more realistic,” he said.

The most expensive homes were sold in Woodbridge and Guilford last quarter, where the median prices were $460,000 and $442,000 respectively, according to the H. Pearce data. Continued...

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The number of foreclosed homes selling is one factor contributing to the price decline, said Paul Ott, chairman of the Greater New Haven Association of Realtors. “Those are going to happen in this kind of economy,” he said.

But Ott, who is a Realtor at William Raveis in Cheshire, said that, while activity may have initially slowed once the tax credits ended, would-be buyers are still in the market.

“Realtors have told me things have slowed down a little bit for them, but things are still busy,” he said. “I think we’re going to see continued growth unless something terrible happens with the economy. It’ll be modest, but I think it’ll continue. I don’t see doom and gloom out there, that’s for sure.”

Historically low mortgage rates are one factor luring some would-be buyers off the fence, Stephens said. Banks have gotten more stringent with their lending standards, but applicants with strong credit scores can still qualify for home loans, he said.

“You can still get a mortgage; it’s just going to be more difficult of a process,” Stephens said.

Call Cara Baruzzi at 203-789-5748.

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