Hartford Area Sees Spike In Condo Market

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Featured in Region Hartford Area Sees Spike In Condo Market "The baby-boom generation wants maintenance-free living and are proving they want their longtime single-family home converted into a luxury condo." Susan Coleman, a finance professor at the University of Hartford By ASSOCIATED PRESS Published on 11/28/2005 Hartford(AP) - Despite signs that the real estate market in the Hartford area is cooling, economists and housing experts expect the condominium market to be hot in the coming years, with thousands of new units planned for the region. More than 5,000 condominium units, ranging in price from $250,000 to $1 million, are planned for the region, The Hartford Courant reported Sunday. "Condos will continue to be a very hot market, even with the new inventory coming on," said Susan Coleman, a finance professor at the University of Hartford. "The baby-boom generation wants maintenance-free living and are proving they want their longtime single-family home converted into a luxury condo." Already, upscale condos are driving up prices in the region. In Bloomfield, East Windsor and Windsor, the median price of condominiums has surpassed the median prices of single-family homes. At The Heritage condominiums in West Hartford, where units sell for up to $800,000, about one-third of the 62 units are under contract. At the Metropolitan in downtown Hartford, almost half of the building's 50 units, which sell for up to $407,000, are spoken for. "I think that speaks to demand, when so many units are sold and we didn't even have a building to show them," said John Hoye, of Prudential Connecticut Realty, a broker for the Metropolitan. "They were buying from drawings on paper." Some developers, such as Peter Standish of Northland Development Corp., believe the luxury market is heating up. Northland is finishing a 36-story luxury apartment complex at the site of the former Civic Center mall in downtown Hartford. It recently announced plans to build an 18-story tower overlooking Bushnell Park. The project, which calls for 200 upscale condos and 100 luxury apartments, is estimated to cost $117 million. "People living in the suburbs are trying to reconnect with the city, a trend that is happening in other markets as well," Standish said. Experts say an increase in mortgage interest rates, job losses in the region and overbuilding could stall the condominium market. But others say demand for condos will continue. "It's really not excessive when you think of the population of Connecticut, the growing number of people 55 and older, the wealth of the state and the sheer size of the existing housing market," said Susan Coleman, a finance professor at the University of Hartford. "Assuming the economy remains stable and interest rates don't go through the roof, there will be people here to buy these homes."    � The Day Publishing Co., 2005 For home delivery, please call 1-866-846-9099