Town Meeting Minute • Issue #13: Towns Are Taking Control of the Housing Conversation

Posted by Tim Bray on August 3rd, 2026

Town Meeting Minute • Issue #13

Towns Are Taking Control of the Housing Conversation

Across New London County, Middlesex County, Washington County, and Newport County, the next real estate story is not just private development pressure. It is how municipalities are rewriting, refining, adopting, resisting, and redirecting the rules that determine what can actually be built.

New London County, CT Middlesex County, CT Washington County, RI Newport County, RI

Real estate value is shaped long before a listing hits the market. It changes when a town initiates its own zoning map amendment, when a follow-up text amendment appears, when a POCD moves to public hearing, when subdivision regulations are rewritten, when housing-growth…

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What a Home Actually Costs to Own in CT & RI: 208 Towns Compared

Posted by Tim Bray on August 2nd, 2026

2026 Property Tax Report · Connecticut

The list price tells you what a home costs to buy. It says nothing about what it costs to own — and in 2026, that second number is where Connecticut buyers get surprised. The same home, one town line apart, can carry a tax bill that differs by well over a thousand dollars a month.

10.85 Lowest rate
(Washington) 68.95 Highest rate
(Hartford) 28.39 Statewide
median 169 Towns in
this report

The number most buyers never check

Everyone shopping for a home watches the price. Far fewer ask the question that actually sets the monthly payment: what’s the property tax? In Connecticut, the answer comes from the town’s mill rate — the dollars…

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Rhode Island 50% Rule: RIGL 23-27.3-106 Explained

Posted by Tim Bray on July 31st, 2026

Rhode Island · Renovation Limits

Rhode Island’s 50% Rule Applies to Every Building in the State

Not just homes on the water. It’s written into state law, it runs on a fixed twelve-month clock, and it has three tiers — not one line.

Seaport Advisory  ·  Southern Rhode Island & Southeastern Connecticut

Most people first hear about the 50% rule in a flood context — renovate a house past a certain point and the whole structure has to be brought up to current flood standards. That version is real, and it comes from the federal flood insurance program.

Rhode Island has its own, and it is broader. It sits in the state building code rather than in a local flood ordinance, which means it reaches a farmhouse in Hopkinton the same…

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Connecticut 50% Rule: Substantial Improvement Explained

Posted by Tim Bray on July 31st, 2026

Connecticut · Flood Zone Renovations

The 50% Rule Isn’t One Rule. That’s Why So Many Renovations Go Sideways.

Three separate rules share the same number. Almost nobody separates them — and in Connecticut, the one that decides your project is written by your town, not the state.

Seaport Advisory  ·  Southeastern Connecticut & Southern Rhode Island

A few days ago a group of us got into it over the 50% rule — the one that says you can only renovate a house in a flood zone so far before the whole building has to come up to current code. Everyone in the room knew the rule. Everyone in the room had a different version of it.

That’s not a knowledge problem. It’s that three separate rules share the same number, and almost nobody…

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Rhode Island’s “Taylor Swift Tax”: What Coastal Homeowners Need to Know

Posted by Tim Bray on July 8th, 2026

Rhode Island Property Tax · 2026

It’s nicknamed for a pop star’s Watch Hill mansion, but Rhode Island’s new second-home tax reaches far beyond the ultra-wealthy — all the way to century-old family cottages on the shoreline. If you own, or are buying, a coastal property in Rhode Island, here’s what you need to understand.

What is the “Taylor Swift Tax”?

Officially, it’s Rhode Island’s Non-Owner Occupied Property Tax (R.I. General Law § 44-72). It picked up the nickname because Taylor Swift owns a roughly $28-million oceanfront estate in Westerly’s Watch Hill — but the law itself has nothing to do with celebrities. It’s a new state-level surcharge, separate from and on top of the property tax you already pay your city or town.

The…

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2026 Rhode Island Property Tax & Mill Rate Report

Posted by Tim Bray on July 8th, 2026

2026 Property Tax Report · Rhode Island

The list price tells you what a home costs to buy. It says nothing about what it costs to own — and in Rhode Island, that second number swings hard from one town to the next. The same home can cost three times as much to hold depending on which side of a town line it sits on.

$4.79 Lowest rate
(Little Compton) $21.52 Highest rate
(Foster) $12.70 Statewide
median 39 Cities & towns
in this report

The number most buyers never check

Everyone shopping for a home watches the price. Far fewer ask the question that actually sets the monthly payment: what’s the property tax? In Rhode Island, that answer comes from your town’s tax rate —…

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2026 Connecticut Property Tax & Mill Rate Report

Posted by Tim Bray on July 5th, 2026

2026 Property Tax Report · Connecticut

The list price tells you what a home costs to buy. It says nothing about what it costs to own — and in 2026, that second number is where Connecticut buyers get surprised. The same home, one town line apart, can carry a tax bill that differs by well over a thousand dollars a month.

10.85 Lowest rate
(Washington) 68.95 Highest rate
(Hartford) 28.39 Statewide
median 169 Towns in
this report

The number most buyers never check

Everyone shopping for a home watches the price. Far fewer ask the question that actually sets the monthly payment: what’s the property tax? In Connecticut, the answer comes from the town’s mill rate — the dollars…

2213 Views, 0 Comments

The Market Is Splitting: Why Some Homes Are in a Seller’s Market While Others Are Not

Posted by Tim Bray on March 5th, 2026

The Market Is Splitting: Why Price Range Now Matters More Than Ever

Series: When the Market Changes – Lessons From Real Estate Cycles

In real estate, markets rarely move in one single direction.

Instead, they tend to evolve gradually. Certain segments begin to change first while others remain strong. Over time those shifts spread across the broader market.

Today we are beginning to see the early stages of that process.

Across many towns in Southeastern Connecticut and coastal Rhode Island, the market is no longer behaving as one unified environment. Instead, it is fragmenting by price range.

Some price tiers remain firmly in seller territory, while others are moving toward balance.

Understanding this shift requires returning to…

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The Real Story Behind Today’s Housing Prices

Posted by Tim Bray on February 4th, 2026

The Housing Market Isn’t Expensive — It’s Uneven

Prices feel high.
Rates are higher.
Homes aren’t moving the way they did a few years ago.

So the conclusion feels obvious:

The market must be overpriced.

That conclusion is understandable — and still incomplete.

Because there is no single housing market.

There are hundreds of micro-markets, shaped by town, neighborhood, and price range. And what’s happening right now has far less to do with “the market” than it does with where a property sits within its local affordability structure.

Median prices don’t measure affordability

When people hear that the median home price in Connecticut is around $460,000, or that Rhode Island is near $480,000, the reaction is predictable:

…

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Rhode Island Housing Market: The First Clear Softening

Posted by Tim Bray on October 14th, 2025

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Rhode Island Housing Market: The First Clear Softening

Rhode Island Housing Market: The First Clear Softening

For nearly four years, Rhode Island real estate has been tight—fast sales, multiple offers, and firm pricing. The latest data shows the first meaningful loosening: inventory is building faster than new contracts in many areas, especially along the coast.

The Key Metric: A/P (Active-to-Pending Ratio)

At Seaport Real Estate Services, we watch Active-to-Pending (A/P) as a clear read on market pressure:

• A/P < 1.0 → more homes under contract than for sale: seller’s market
• A/P ≈ 1.0 → supply ≈ demand: balanced market
• A/P > 1.0 → inventory outpacing contracts: tilting toward buyers

Statewide Rhode…

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