Assessment Woes

The City of New Haven has just released its new assessment figures, and there is a lot of talk in the media (see particularly the last couple of articles in the New Haven Independent) about tax increases by neighborhood.  As I've blogged about before, East Rock is the neighborhood in New Haven that stands out as having held its value over the past years of decline (Spring Glen in Hamden is the other one that really distinguishes itself).  Because so many areas in our region, let alone the core city, have gone down in value since the peak of the market, East Rock stands to have higher tax increases in the upcoming revaluation.

While one could look at that from a negative point of view, the real key here is that values have held up in that neighborhood, despite plenty of bad economic news and job loss around the region and the country.  Although that may cause taxes for people there to rise, they are not going to be underwater in value, as so many others are.  And that's certainly good news.

Listings Flying Off the Shelf

After a long, long, long winter, we're seeing signs of spring! And that includes the spring market. I'm starting to get lots of calls from people connected to Yale, who've gotten their job offers and are beginning to look for housing here. We are entering lots of new listings into the system--several dozen in New Haven alone last month. And, at long last, some of the suburban inventory is moving. I heard last week that a spate of sales in Pine Orchard has reduced the available inventory drastically. Even things that have been for sale for a very long time have gone on deposit. That's good news for sellers, who have been consoling themselves with the thought that nothing was selling, while they sat with their houses unsold. If they aren't going now, it's time to re-examine the price, because we're experiencing a boost that should help everyone. And it's about time!