Single-family home, condominiums, mobile home, land, multifamily and commercial sales were all dramatically down across New London and Windham counties for the last three months of 2022, registering decreases in number of sales between 21.4% and 40.2% compared to the end of 2021.

That’s according to newly released stats from the Eastern Connecticut Association of Realtors.

The number of single-family home sales decreased 24% from the fourth quarter of 2021 to the same period last year, while the median sale price increased 6.1%. When comparing all of 2022 to 2021, the number of sales dropped 16.4% and the median price increased 9%.

The median sale price for single-family homes in eastern Connecticut for the fourth quarter of last year was $315,000. The 6.1% increase is the lowest year-over-year quarterly increase since the second quarter of 2020. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the sale price increase peaked at 18.6% in the second quarter of 2021.

This is a continuation of what ECAR CEO Susy Hurlbert said when the third-quarter data came out: It looks like the market is finally starting to soften.

Hurlbert noted this week that while there was an inventory shortage all year, it was heightened in the last quarter, and that rising interest rates “are correlated with a more dramatic drop in the number of sales for the fourth quarter.” Mortgage rates increased from under 3% at the beginning of the year to more than 6%.

Hurlbert also said the commercial market has been depressed as a result of the pandemic, and that smaller storefronts are not recouping their presence as much as distribution centers or warehouses.

The number of land sales dropped 43.6% in 2022 compared to 2021. Hurlbert said this is correlated to fewer housing starts, which goes back to inflated construction costs and labor shortages.

The number of days on the market for single-family homes in eastern Connecticut decreased 11.4% year-over-year for the fourth quarter, but the average sale price was less than 100% of list price, which was not the case for the first three quarters of 2022.