March 2013 Activity in Mid-Fairfield

The early 'spring' activity that began in February continued at a rapid pace in March. Escrow activity increased in all towns that we're following, including Westport, Weston, Wilton, Fairfield, and I've added Stamford to the mix, which has a number of similarities to Fairfield. The hottest town in the mix is Westport, which saw 56 properties go to contract in March. The number of properties that went to escrow in Westport through March was 120, an increase of 64% over the same time period in 2012. March was also a good month in Weston and Wilton with 14 and 19 properties respectively going to escrow. Closed sales were down in Weston through March, the only town in our group that saw a decrease, but escrows year to date in Weston stood at 37 versus 23 the year before. Homes under contract remain a better indicator of the current marketplace. Fairfield and Stamford, the largest of the group, also saw increases in March escrow activity and closed sales. Their median sale prices are quite similar with Fairfield now at $535,000 compared to $505,000 in Stamford, but Fairfield's median price has seen a nice jump from 2012. Westport has seen the largest number of closed sales (79) through March, which is an indicator that the Westport market starting to heat up before the other markets that we're surveying. Wilton has also seen good numbers, though the median sales price in Wilton has only increased 1.9% through March. Housing inventory continues to be relatively low, though turnover is still behind the height of the market back in the 2004-2007 period. Fairfield's 6.5 month's of inventory overall is close to historic levels, though the high end in Fairfield continues to lag.