Homes for Sale in Ellington

You can't swim in Shenipsit Lake, you can't put a kayak on it, and the land along the edge isn't the town's. It's a public drinking water reservoir owned by Connecticut Water, so any Ellington listing that hints at lake life has to be read against their rules. Single-family homes sold at a median of $466,000 in 2025, up 11%, at 103.5% of asking in a median of 19 days.

What Homes Actually Sell For in Ellington

Full calendar year, single-family detached. Source: SmartMLS Local Market Update, December 2025.

Days on market and percent of list came in identical two years running, on nearly identical volume, and the median still rose 11%. That's a steady market repricing upward rather than one heating up. Ellington is the second most expensive of the eight Tolland County towns I cover, behind Somers.

Shenipsit Lake Is a Reservoir You Can't Use

This is the fact that costs Ellington buyers the most disappointment, & you can know all of it before you ever write an offer.

The Town of Ellington says it plainly on its own website: Shenipsit Lake is not a resource controlled by the Town of Ellington, and the property right along the water is owned by Connecticut Water.

It's an active public drinking water supply, protected under state Department of Public Health rules. Everything else follows from that:

No swimming. Wading in, or any bodily contact with the water, is flat-out prohibited.

No kayaks. Spelled out, prohibited.

Boats by annual lottery only. Every boat has to be registered with Connecticut Water through an annual lottery, and the storage slots are limited — 52 for the 2026 season, which opened April 11, 2026, online registration only.

No ice fishing.

What you can do: hike the designated trails and fish in the designated areas.

So a property "near Shenipsit Lake" doesn't come with a dock, a swim, or a boat you can just drop in the water. I'm not knocking the town here. The lake is beautiful and the trails are real. But it's a different product from lakefront in Coventry, and if you're paying a premium for a water view you should know exactly what that view gets you.

Crystal Lake Sits in Two Towns, and That Changes Your Tax Bill

Here's a question almost nobody gets right, including a lot of listing copy.

Crystal Lake is 187 acres and straddles the Ellington–Stafford town line. The village and census-designated place called Crystal Lake is administratively part of Ellington. The water itself is split.

Which means the single most important thing about a Crystal Lake waterfront property is which town the parcel is actually in, because that decides:

Your mill rate. Ellington charges 25.42. Stafford charges 25.35 plus a 2.06 Service District rate in part of town — and Stafford's Service District lines split individual streets by house number.

Your school district. Ellington runs its own PK–12 district. Stafford runs its own PK–12 district. Different schools entirely.

Who issues your septic permit. North Central District Health Department covers both, but the town matters for everything else.

Most of the shoreline is private homes. There's one public beach — Sandy Beach, on the south side — and a Connecticut DEEP boat launch on the western shore.

On water quality: the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station surveyed Crystal Lake in 2013 and found 21 aquatic plant species including variable-leaf watermilfoil, an invasive, in medium abundance in the northern, southern and eastern coves. Ask the lake association what treatment has been done since.

Property Taxes, and Why a 31% Drop in the Rate Isn't Good News

Ellington's FY2026-27 mill rate is 25.42, and it applies to real estate, motor vehicles and personal property alike. The year before it was 37.10.

That looks like a 31% tax cut. Here's what actually happened.

Ellington revalued on the October 1, 2025 Grand List, and the grand list rose 46.86%. Assessments got reset to 2025 market values across the board, and the mill rate came down to offset it.

Now the arithmetic that matters. A revaluation-neutral rate — the one that would collect exactly the same total — works out to roughly 25.26. The adopted rate is 25.42, a little above that.

So the average Ellington homeowner is looking at a small real increase, not a 31% cut. Whether your own bill went up or down depends on whether your assessment rose more or less than about 46%. Anybody quoting Ellington's new mill rate as savings is selling you a number instead of a tax bill.

Preliminary revaluation notices went out November 12, 2025. The next revaluation is 2030.

The budget took three referenda. A $75,724,155 budget failed on May 26 and June 9 before it passed June 24, 2026 by 1,357 to 1,141.

Ellington has one entry in the state's special taxing district registry — the Crystal Lake Fire District, established 1949. I couldn't find a separate mill rate published for it, and it doesn't show up in the state's mill rate dataset. If you're buying around Crystal Lake, ask the Assessor directly whether any district charge applies to the parcel. And that fire district is a different animal from the Crystal Lake sewer system, which does carry a documented annual charge — that's below.

Ellington Has No Sewage Treatment Plant

The town's Water Pollution Control Authority says it straight out: Ellington does not have a treatment plant. Effluent gets sent to Vernon or Stafford at a per-gallon rate.

There are two sewer systems — the Hockanum system and the Crystal Lake system — running on seven pump stations town-wide and 112 grinder pumps at Crystal Lake.

Crystal Lake sewer runs $1,086 per household per year as of October 2025 — $274 fixed plus $812 variable. Seasonal billing is available if you can show seasonal use.

Two things I'd take from that. A grinder pump is a homeowner-maintained mechanical device with a real failure cost, and 112 of them are in service at Crystal Lake. Ask how old the one on the property is and who's been servicing it. And outside those two service areas, Ellington is private well and septic — budget for a septic inspection and a well water test as standard, not as an add-on.

PA 490 and the Ten-Year Trap on Acreage

If you're looking at a house with meaningful acreage in Ellington, read this before you make an offer.

Connecticut's PA 490 program assesses farm, forest and open space land at its use value instead of its market value. The tax bills that come out of that are dramatically lower, and Ellington actively administers it.

Ellington's requirements: applications run September 1 to October 31 in an ordinary year, stretched to September 1 through December 30 in a revaluation year. Minimums are 25 contiguous acres for forest land and 5 acres for open space in the RA, AA and A zones. There's no stated acreage minimum for farm land.

And here's the part that catches people: a conveyance tax penalty applies if the land is sold or converted within 10 years.

So a listing advertising low taxes on acreage may be carrying a PA 490 classification. That low assessment is tied to the land staying in farm or forest use. Subdivide or develop inside that ten-year window and you trigger the penalty — and the low taxes that made the property attractive are gone the moment the use changes.

Ask whether the parcel is classified, when it was classified, and what the penalty exposure is. In writing.

Ellington Schools

Ellington runs its own PK–12 district — five schools, about 2,474 students.

Enrollment figures are from the National Center for Education Statistics, 2024-25.

Watch the grade structure, because it's different from the neighbors. Ellington runs three elementary schools that go through grade 6, feeding a middle school that's only grades 7 and 8. Vernon and Somers both use the PK–5 / 6–8 pattern. If you're relocating within Tolland County, your kid changes buildings at a different grade than you're expecting.

Windermere School is mid-project. A $61 million renovate-to-new project was approved by referendum on March 3, 2022 by 630 to 223 — roughly 38,000 square feet of addition plus renovation and partial demolition, designed for 739 students. State reimbursement was later bumped from 55.36% to 70%, saving Ellington taxpayers an estimated $9 million. The work's been phased, with a new cafeteria in operation by January 2025. If your timing depends on it, ask the district where the completion schedule stands.

Ellington Airport — Skydiving, Helicopters, and Route 83

Ellington Airport (7B9) is privately owned and open to public use, out on Route 83 next to the industrial park. Single asphalt runway 1/19, 1,800 by 50 feet. About 34 based aircraft — 59% single-engine, 23% helicopters, 18% ultralights.

It's state-certified as a parachute jump zone and it's home to Connecticut Parachutists Inc.

So you get active skydiving operations and a real share of rotary-wing traffic overhead. Some buyers love it, some can't live with it. If you're looking north of the center near Route 83, go stand on the property on a clear Saturday and listen.

A Correction on Growth

Ellington gets described as a fast-growing town all the time. The data doesn't back that up.

The 2020 Census counted 16,426 residents. The July 2025 estimate is 16,594 — roughly 1% over five years. Essentially flat.

What's true is that Ellington is a high-income, high-ownership, agricultural town that's held onto its character: 72.2% owner-occupied, median household income $129,913, median owner-occupied home value $366,900, 2.59 persons per household, 51.4% of adults holding bachelor's degrees, and a mean commute of 31.2 minutes. Cattle & corn farming are still a real part of the land use.

One development-pressure note that does matter: Ellington's affordable housing stock is 5.43% of total units, under the state's 10% threshold. So Ellington isn't exempt from Connecticut's affordable housing appeals procedure, where a developer can appeal a local zoning denial and push the burden of proof onto the town.

Crumbling Concrete Foundations

Ellington sits entirely inside the 20-mile radius of the former J.J. Mottes Concrete Company in Stafford Springs, and the town keeps its own crumbling foundations page on the Assessor's site — pointing residents to the state assistance program, free University of Connecticut testing, and a regional remediation program for low- and moderate-income owners. The local contact is Ellington Human Services at (860) 870-3128.

Concrete poured from 1983 through 2015 is the at-risk window. A standard home inspection doesn't touch this, and a clean seller's disclosure isn't a test result. And this part is critical: Connecticut's assistance program requires the foundation to have been tested or visually examined before the date of sale. Close without it and the eligibility is gone.

I've written a full buyer's guide to this issue — how testing actually works, what it costs, what the state assistance program pays for and what it doesn't, and the deadline that catches people out. Crumbling Foundations in Connecticut: What Buyers Must Do Before Closing.

A Few Practical Things

The Town Clerk is closed Fridays, and the recording cutoff comes earlier than the office hours. Office hours are Monday 8:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and Tuesday through Thursday 8:00 to 4:30 — but recording hours are Monday 8:00 to 6:00 and Tuesday through Thursday 8:00 to 4:15. A Thursday-afternoon closing that runs past 4:15 doesn't record until Monday. The office is at 55 Main Street, (860) 870-3105.

No interstate runs through Ellington. You've got Routes 30, 32, 74, 83, 140 and 286, with I-84 and I-91 each roughly ten to fifteen minutes away.

Septic and well permits go through the North Central District Health Department — not Eastern Highlands, which serves Tolland, Coventry, Mansfield and Willington but not Ellington.

Connecticut Water serves part of the town.

Ellington covers 34.1 square miles of land — nearly twice Vernon's area for half the population — with a 2020 Census population of 16,426 and 7,054 housing units.

Thinking of Selling in Ellington?

103.5% of list in nineteen days, two years running. This is a dependable market and you're selling into it from a position of strength.

Three things I'd have ready. If the property carries a PA 490 classification, disclose it early and explain it — a buyer who stumbles on it at the title search assumes something was hidden. If you're on the Crystal Lake sewer system, have the grinder pump service history. And if the foundation was poured between 1983 and 2015, test it before we go to market — buyers in this town are unusually well informed on that issue, and meeting the question with a result instead of a shrug is worth real money.

If you want a real number for your home, call me. I'll walk the property, pull the actual comps, and tell you honestly what I think it brings.

Nearby Towns

Ellington borders 5 of the other towns I cover, and people looking here almost always look at a couple of them too. Same guide, same numbers, for each one:

• Somers real estate
• Stafford real estate
• Tolland real estate
• Vernon real estate
• Willington real estate

Or see how every town in the county compares side by side in my Tolland County real estate guide.

Sources and dates. Sale price, closed sales, days on market and percent of list received: SmartMLS Local Market Update, December 2025, single-family detached, full-year 2025 and 2024. Mill rates: Town of Ellington Assessor tax and assessment change calculator; prior-year rate from Connecticut Office of Policy and Management. Revaluation and grand list change: Town of Ellington Assessor and local reporting, May 2026. Budget referenda: local reporting, June 2026. Special taxing district registry: CT OPM. Shenipsit Lake rules and access: Town of Ellington Parks and Recreation and Connecticut Water. Crystal Lake boundary, acreage and aquatic plant survey: Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, 2013, and CT DEEP. Sewer systems, pump stations, grinder pumps and Crystal Lake charges: Ellington Water Pollution Control Authority, October 2025. PA 490 application windows, acreage minimums and conveyance penalty: Town of Ellington Assessor. School enrollment: National Center for Education Statistics, 2024-25. Windermere project cost, referendum and reimbursement rate: Ellington Public Schools and local reporting. Airport data: Federal Aviation Administration records and Town of Ellington. Population, income, owner-occupancy and housing units: U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts and 2020 Census. Affordable housing percentage: Connecticut Department of Housing, 2024 Affordable Housing Appeals List. Town Clerk hours and recording cutoff: Town of Ellington. Septic and wells: North Central District Health Department. Crumbling foundations: Town of Ellington Assessor and the state foundation testing program.

Last updated August 2026. Tax rates and market data change — ask me for current numbers.