Activity Through March 2016

Pick up in March

Sales year to date seem to be on a pace similar to 2015, but March activity was up in all towns. That being said, in Fairfield, Weston & Wilton the majority of the activity was for homes under $1 million.  Only Westport had a majority of recent homes binder for over $1million.  This explains the jump in the median price in Westport to $1,395,000 through the month of March. This represents an increase in the median price of 11.6%.   Closed sales for the year in Westport are identical to 2015, with 61 single family closings ytd. Year to date there have been 111 properties go to contract compared to 63 in the previous year, a 76.2% jump.

However, part of the underlying story is the increase in new properties that have come to the market.  In Westport there have been 296 new single family homes come to the market in 2016, an increase of 29.3%. Weston’s numbers percentage-wise are similar, with 119 new properties compared to 93 at this time in 2015, a 28% increase.  The numbers in Wilton are also similar-167 vs. 133, a 25.6% increase.  Fairfield numbers are a little more modest, an 18.2% increase, with 441 new listings compared to 373 in the first three months of 2015.

The median price trajectory has been increasing, but some of these figures may be deceptive.  In Weston, for example, the $745,000 median price is 13.7% higher than figures through the first 3 months of 2015, but below the 2015 median which was above $815,000. Wilton’s median price is up only 5% compared to the median of March 2015, but at $919,000 is above the median price for the entire 2015 season.  Fairfield’s upward trend to $635,000, an increase of 16.5% may be a better indicator of prices on the lower end of the market creeping upwards, though still well behind its neighbors overall.  The overall numbers are much greater in Fairfield than in the neighboring towns.  The 115 closed sales, for example is nearly double that of Westport.  However, signed contracts in Fairfield have jumped from 137 at this time last year to 238, a huge 73.7% jump.  The relative affordability and inventory of lower priced homes is driving these numbers.

Signed contracts are also up in Westport, Weston and Wilton. In Westport up from 63 to 111, a 76.2% jump. In Weston, up from 30 to 46, a 53.3% boost, and in Wilton, the largest increase of all, from 37 to 69 signed contracts, an 84% increase.  This recent spate of contract signing suggests that months of inventory have decreased, but this will depend on the number of new listings coming to the market in April and following months.