All week, articles have been appearing that feature Connecticut in a positive light. Maybe we just aren't used to that, but it's certainly a welcome surprise when it happens! This past few days, Hartford was singled out in a major survey as the #1 city across the country for real estate investment in 2023. New Haven was then featured in the New York Times as one of this year's 52 Places Around the World to Visit. It was mentioned as being a center for the arts, and a haven (pun intended) for foodies.
population growth rankings by state
It's only fair to share as well the most recent population growth rankings by state, which just appeared this week. Connecticut ranked 49th, just above Vermont. The reasons cited were our aging population, and our continuing tendency to lose people to other regions. For reasons not totally clear, Connecticut's decreasing white population was also pointed out. How would changing demographics be mixed with decreasing growth? However, the 0.1% figure does limit what will happen to demand going forward. All of New England lags the US as a whole, so climate is a big factor, but it doesn't change the result.
What does this mean for buyers and sellers of real estate in Connecticut?
All news, within reason, is good news. When a scale is positive in nature, you want to be near the top of it. Anything that focuses on quality of life makes it easier for employers here to recruit from other regions, and that helps the housing and commercial pictures considerably. If visitors decide that Connecticut is an attractive place to live, those population numbers can increase. In any event, investors and residents, even seasonal ones, will increase demand for real estate. That will stabilize or push up prices, so that citizens who already live here will see greater returns on what they own. They will also find more buyers, when they go to sell.
As markets become more global, and more buyers search on line, it becomes about the reputation of an area, and what shows up in searches. Some investors, especially, and most often in the commercial arena, may buy without seeing the property. What they read about a place becomes their reality. We now have some really upbeat mentions in national media lately, and those will help us outpace the market in other places.
