At the beginning of a new year many homeowners are making decisions about their housing. Spring is a popular time to list a property with the hopes of selling and being settled before the next winter sets in.
2025 continued to be a hot market for our state, with supply staying low and demand staying up.
In Hartford county, the average single family home sale price increased by 6.2% from 2024 ($430,393 in 2024 to $457,025 in 2025), and the percentage of list price received (ie: what a property sold for vs. what it was listed for) declined slightly by 0.1% but was still at 103.3%. New listings decreased by 4.2% and closed sales declined by 10.6% with a corresponding drop in “months supply” by 5.6%. (Data obtained from the CT SmartMLS).
So what is in store for 2026? Currently, home prices are projected to continue to rise. Hartford (and its surrounding towns) was just named the nation’s hottest housing market by both Zillow and Realtor.com due to severe inventory shortages and strong buyer demand. This is continuing the trend of bidding wars and sales over asking price. To put the supply demand in perspective, our market continues to have a supply that is 63% lower than its pre-COVID levels.
The good news for buyers is that 30-year mortgage rates are projected to gradually decrease from 6.1%-6.4% to the high 5% range.
With a market that continues to be as challenging as the one we’ve been in, it is always a good idea to get professional opinions when deciding whether it’s the right to time to sell or make updates. We are always here if you have questions and need a valuation completed on your property!
When going through the process of a divorce, it is usually necessary to have an appraisal completed on any owned real estate. This is done to provide a professional, unbiased valuation of marital property to establish the fair market value for an equitable division between divorcing spouses. The appraisal assists in providing an objective basis for negotiations, buyouts, settlements and court decisions. It is also important in developing an understanding of the value of your current assets and future financial planning, which is particularly important when negotiating settlements, alimony and child support.
The cost of the appraisal is typically split between the parties, but this can vary. If an appraiser cannot be agreed upon mutually, both parties may decide to hire their own and pay the full fee individually.
If there is a disagreement between the divorcing spouses on the appraised value, there are several options forward including a second appraisal, arbitration, mediation or putting it in the hands of the court.
We have assisted many homeowners in this process. While it is a stressful and emotional time for our clients, we strive to make the process as straight forward and easy to understand as possible, resulting in a fair valuation for the parties involved. We can also provide professional testimony in court if required.
A revaluation is the process of reassessing all the real property in a town to determine its current fair market value and is conducted every 5 years in CT per state law. The goal is to equalize the tax burden among property owners. Most of the time, these revaluations are pretty straight forward, but sometimes homeowners feel the new valuation on their property may not be accurate, and that is where we can help!
The following Connecticut towns / cities had revaluation in 2025: Ashford, Beacon Falls, Bridgeport, Clinton, Colebrook, Deep River, Durham, East Hampton, Ellington, Fairfield, Greenwich, Haddam, Hartland, Ledyard, Marlborough, Meriden, Middlebury, Milford, New Milford, Newington, North Stonington, Plymouth, Salisbury, Shelton, Somers, Southington, Stafford, Thomaston, Trumbull, Westport, Wolcott and Woodstock.
If you own a single family house, condominium or 2–4-unit house in one of these towns, check your mail for a notice from the town / city informing you of your homes new value for taxation purposes. Values have gone up significantly over the past few years. You may be shocked at the percentage increase proposed by your town or city.
We frequently receive emails or calls requesting a copy of a completed appraisal report, often from the homeowner. Sometimes we can send the report to them, and sometimes we cannot, even if they are the homeowner or the buyer. Why is this?
The “Client” specified on an appraisal report is the party who hired the appraiser for the assignment – regardless of who owns the property or pays the fee. The client can be an individual, a group, or an entity such as a lender or attorney.
If an appraisal was ordered by a lender and completed on your home for a loan you are pursuing, the appraiser cannot disclose the report directly to you. Instead, it will go to the lender, and from there they can share the report as needed. In these situations, we direct the homeowner back to their lender contact for the report.
If the appraisal client is “John Smith” and his wife requests a copy, the appraiser can only provide the report directly to John and it is up to him to decide whether or not to share it.
Many homes in the Connecticut market area have at least one fireplace, typically for aesthetic purposes more so than supplementing heat during the colder months.
In an appraisal, fireplaces do usually add some value as long as they are well-maintained, functional and aesthetically appealing.
If a fireplace is not functional then it most likely will have little or no value in the appraisal. It may even negatively impact the home’s value, as it could be a maintenance issue instead of an amenity.
When comparing wood-burning fireplaces to gas fireplaces to pellet stoves, there are differences to consider. Any of these as functional amenities can add value to a home, but it varies depending on local market demand, convenience factor, and climate. A wood burning fireplace adds ambiance but requires regular chimney sweeping and maintenance; a gas stove is usually lower-maintenance and offers instant heat, but can be costly to install; a pellet stove is considered more environmentally conscious, but will not operate during a power outage and usually has a high maintenance requirement.
Depending on the situation, a full interior appraisal of a property is not always necessary. Some refinance loans or low-risk loans may only require a “drive-by” or “exterior only” appraisal to be completed. This is also a common inspection request for foreclosure proceedings.
An exterior appraisal relies on data gathered from observations of the exterior of the property (typically viewed from the street), along with information obtained through public records (zoning information, tax records, assessor cards, and other public data). Neighborhood characteristics and comparable sale data are also utilized as in all other reports.
On the homeowner’s end, exterior appraisals can be seen as more convenient since they don’t require an appointment time. This often can help move the process along faster as the appraiser can go at their first available time.
However, there are limitations and it is not unheard of for a homeowner to request a full interior inspection following an exterior only because the information that was publicly available to the appraiser was not fully reflective of updates/improvements made to the home and therefore, could change the estimated value.
Since the appraiser is relying only on what they can see from the outside of the home and what is reflected on public records in regards to gross living area, updated features and permits pulled, assumptions often need to be made about the condition and features of the interior of the house. This may result in a value that is lower or higher than what would have been estimated if the appraiser had access to the interior of the property.