2011 Mid-Fairfield Single Family Home Statistics

Westport Weston Wilton Fairfield Norwalk

Homes bindered 11 2 11 22 23
Homes Under Contract 31 11 12 52 52
Sold 2011 340 103 176 521 433
Marketing time 100days 114 116 110 118
Sold 2010 347 118 163 595 505
Average Sales Price '11 $1,340,636 838,488 958,406 694,515 575,648
Average Sales Price '10 1,454,518 929,994 879,330 679,782 565,927
Ratio List to sell 2011 94% 93% 94% 94% 94%
Ratio List to sell 2010 93% 92% 94% 94% 94%
Month's Inventory 2011 10.6 17.4 11.3 9.7 10.8
Month's Inventory 2010 11.6 13.2 11.6 10 10.8
Percent change -9 31.6 -2.8 -2.2 unchanged
Change Median Sales Price -5.40% -9.60% 5.40% 5.8 -5.10%
Median Sales Price $1,085,625 750,000 825,000 549,900 419,000


2011 Mid-Fairfield results were mixed. Wilton showed the greatest improvement in number of homes sold vs.the previous year. Westport saw a slight decrease in overall sales and median price. Volume was more impacted in Norwalk,Weston, and Fairfield. Looking at the bigger picture, the Case-Schiller N.Y. Metro Price Index is now indicating March 2004 levels and the index was virtually unchanged between the 4th quarters of 2010 and 2011. Financial crises and natural disasters both impacted sales in the 3rd and 4th quarters of 2010 and 2011. Most recent activity (properties under binder or contract) points to increased activity in the 4th quarter which may be reflective of increased consumer confidence.

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Statistical data compiled from Consolidated Multiple Listing Service

January-August stats

Mid- Fairfield August Update

August is usually one of our slowest months and this August confirmed the rule. One town that had a little more than usual activity in August was Fairfield which had 33 properties binder in recent weeks.
Recent activity has been on the lower end of the scale in Westport, Fairfield and Norwalk. Westport’s 12 current bindered homes average an asking price of $1,161,166, below the average of homes sold in Westport year to date. Fairfield’s bindered homes were just below the average sold price. In Norwalk the lower priced homes seem to be moving in August with the 25 homes currently under binder having an average list price of $419,664. This in comparison to the average 2011 home sale’s price of $611,905.
Wilton and Weston provide a slightly different picture. Bindered sales in both of those towns were above the 2011 average sales prices. In Weston the 3 homes under binder have an average listing price of $963,333 vs. an average sales price of $863,977. Wilton’s 11 binders averaged $1,049,636 vs. an average sales price of $971,219. Wilton has been the picking up some of last year’s slack and is on a sales pace that is 9% over 2010 numbers. Weston, on the other hand has seen year to date sales fall 9%. These two towns are a little like the Upper east side and Upper west side of Manhattan. They have a lot of similarities, and right now the flavor of the year is Wilton.
Pending sales, those that are under contract, paint a better picture of the early summer activity. Westport, with 42 properties under contract, had a lot of early summer activity. The larger towns of Fairfield and Norwalk have 59 and 61 pending single family home sales. Though larger than Westport numbers, Fairfield has a population about double the size of Westport, and Norwalk is about triple. Weston and Wilton, with 9 and 11 homes under escrow had a relatively slow summer, but it worth noting that the average list prices of homes under contract is $1,080,44 in Weston and $1,049,682 in Wilton. These figures are both above the average price of homes sold in 2011 in those two towns. Million dollar homes in these two towns offer a lot of value in comparison with coastal towns.
General sales are down in both Fairfield and Norwalk, with very similar percentages; -14% in Fairfield, and 15% in Norwalk. Westport and Wilton are both up 9% and Weston is down an equal amount.

Mid-Fairfield Waterfront Property Update*

This report is focused upon properties in Westport and Fairfield that are within the areas generally considered to be the ‘beach’ area. A distinction needs to be made between properties that are either direct waterfront on Long Island Sound, have direct LI Sound views, or are located on a body of water giving direct access to the Sound with a dock on the property,and those that are within walking distance of the beach, or have distant water views. Westport has two separate beach areas, the Compo Beach area, which is generally considered to be south of Greens Farms road to the Sound between Compo Road south and Hillspoint road, and Saugautuck Shores, which includes those properties on the peninsula off Duck Pond Road.

For Fairfield, I am not including the general Southport area, but will include direct waterfront property within Southport that have direct water views or docks. The beach area in Fairfield consists of properties located south of Oldfield Road east of Sasco Hill Road. Lakefront properties are not included in this overview.

Direct waterfront property sales in Westport have remained on the same pace in 2011 as in 2010. However, 2011 has seen the average sales price (year to date) increase from $1,913,750 in 2010 to $3,577,313 in 2011, an 87% jump. In the Compo Beach area sales are slightly off from 2010 levels in terms of units (3 fewer units sold thus far in 2011) but the average sales price is up 12% to $2,177,222. The 6 pending sales (under contract) average $2,582,833, so we
may see an increase in average sales prices in the Compo beach area before the end of the year. In Saugatuck Shores the sales pace has been very consistent with 2010, but again average sales prices have increased significantly to $2,605,902.

In Fairfield there has been a marked increase of sales in the general beach area, up about 50% from 2010 totals through July, however the sales averages have fallen about 10% to $1,142,177. This reflects a greater number of sales below $1,000,000, which is also mirroring activity in the rest of Fairfield. Sales of direct waterfront homes were down in the first two quarters in Fairfield , as were average prices, but there are currently 8 direct waterfront properties in the beach area under escrow or contract, averaging approximately $1,900,000, so end of the year direct waterfront totals are likely to surpass 2010 totals.

General inventories in both Fairfield and Westport have decreased since the height of the Spring market, but pockets of inventory in direct waterfront has increased since the start of summer.

*Based on Consolidated Multiple listing system information

Mid-Term Real Estate Activity

2011 Midterm Results*

Now that we’re past the July 4th weekend and its aftermath, it’s time for a quick rundown on real estate activity. County-wide the median sales price has been practically unchanged at $430,000 in the past two quarters of results provided by the Connecticut Multiple Listing Service.
For those looking at homes in Southwest Connecticut these numbers may not seem reflective of local pricing, but bear in mind that Fairfield county extends well beyond the Mid-Fairfield area that I primarily cover. It is one of 8 counties in the state, but it is worth noting that it is the only county that saw positive growth in 2010 in both number of sales and volume of sales.
I usually use average pricing in my quarterly results, and use median pricing when looking at yearly results, comparing both average and median prices. The first two quarters of 2011 have seen increases in average pricing in most of the coastal towns including Westport, Fairfield, and Darien as well as inland towns such as Weston, Wilton and New Canaan.
This mid-term report covers the period from January 1, 2011 to June 30th, 2011. However, I wanted to note some of the more recent activity since July 1. There has been a mini burst in activity which reflects buyers and rentors looking to be settled before the beginning of the school year. Westport has seen 13 binders since July 1 for single family homes, and 12 rental binders during that time (as of July 15). The single family home asking prices averaged $1,142,421. This is about $200,000 below the average sale prices year to date (which I will speak about below)-an indication of recent activity under $1,000,000 in Westport.
Weston is only showing 2 recent binders since July 1, but a number as of yet unreported activity will increase these numbers in the weeks ahead. Wilton has showed increased strength in the past couple of weeks with 12 new binders on single family homes and 4 rental binders. The single family homes averaged listing price of $875,000 is slightly below sales averages in the first six months and confirms the lower end activity seen in Westport.
The ‘sweet spot’ of Fairfield real estate falls into the range under $1,000,000 as well, but the 17 recent binders had an average ask price of $783,682 which is actually higher than the average sales prices year to date (see below), as Fairfield has the most offerings at this price point. There were also 10 rental binders in the past two weeks.
In the first two quarters Westport has continued to outperform the surrounding towns in mid-Fairfield with 170 single family home sales in 2011 vs. 146 in the first 6 months of 2010. The average sales price was $1,362,070. Sales numbers have fallen in Wilton, Weston, and Fairfield, although the average sales prices have actually increased. Looking beyond mid-Fairfield, activity in Darien has decreased in the first two quarters, while New Canaan sales have increased. Combined sales in Darien and New Canaan was 179 compared to 170 in Westport, but their combined population of 38,000 is 10,000 more than Westport. Average sales prices are considerably higher in Darien and New Canaan, with a huge spike in the first two quarters in New Canaan to over $2,000,000 due in large part to 38 homes that have sold for over $2 million year to date.
2011 Weston sales have been similar to 2010 results with 54 sales in the first six months of 2011 vs. 59 in 2010. The average sales price has increased to $832,978 from $808,484 in 2010. Wilton sales were off as of June 30, but recent binders mentioned above have put in back on pace to match 2010 sales levels with average sales prices jumping to $917,081 as of June 30th, about 13% higher than the previous year.
Fairfield has taken the biggest ‘hit’ in sales volume in 2011 with only 254 single family home sales in the first six months vs. 303 in 2010. The most recent sales activity is a good sign for Fairfield, and there has been increased activity in the past month or so in the beach area.

*Statistics as per The Consolidated Multiple Listing Service

April 2011 Market Update

April 2011 Market Update

April started out strong in Westport, and tailed off a bit towards the end of the month. Still escrow activity increased by 56 homes compared to April 2010, or a 53.3% increase. With inventory increasingly slowly, (368 properties in 2011 vs. 362 the previous year) relative supply of homes decreased. The median sold price of $1.25 million in April ’11 compared favorably to the 735K in 2010-a good indicator of where sales are going, that is to say that the middle of the market is now where much of the activity is taking place, as compared to early 2010 which saw more activity in the lower end of the market. Year to date the median price of properties under escrow has increased to $1.14 million, up from 900k in 2010.

The picture of the Weston market in April was slightly different. Though April saw an increase in properties opening escrow, 25 vs. 14 in 2010, Weston is still about on the same pace as in 2010 and the median sold price of homes year-to-date of 747k compared to 822 k in 2010, is a sign of the lower end of the market driving sales. On a positive note the months of housing inventory decreased by 3.4% showing a slight improvement.

April saw a jump in escrow activity similar to Weston’s but year to date Wilton is doing better than Weston with 73 properties going to escrow vs. 54 in 2010 through April 30th, and the months of inventory declined to 8.2 months vs. 11.6 months in 2010. Median price increased in April to 905k but year to date that figure is 768k, a drop from 822k in 2010, and just slightly higher than in Weston.

Fairfield’s market seems to be improving. New properties dropped somewhat in April but the overall numbers year to date are down 25.9%. April saw a nice rebound in escrowed sales from 74 to 97 in 2011 and totals through the end of April are up from 200 in 2010 to 240 in 2011, an increase of 20 per cent. The median price of homes that have closed this year went up to $640,000 in April, an almost 30% increase over the previous year. Lower priced home sales still continue to dominate sales.

Early Spring Update

2011 has been marked in all areas by significantly low inventories in all towns. This may be due in part to the record number of snowfalls that we have had, or may also be due to potential home sellers who have decided to wait until prices move back to previous levels before listing. The result has been a very strong demand for homes that are well-priced and in excellent condition, across all price points. There are still some excellent opportunities for buyers looking for homes that may have been passed over because they have been on the market for an extended period of time.

In Westport current inventory represents 5 months of inventory versus 8.8 months at this time last year. 114 new properties have come to market year to date versus 147 last year. There are currently 29 properties under binder, and an additional 54 properties under contract. There have been 31 closed sales since Jan. 1 as compared to 29 last year at this time. The median sold price has been $1.19 m vs. 1.1m in 2010 at this time.

Weston has seen the same number of sales year to date as in 2010. Its inventory of homes on the market has decreased from 6.5 months to 5 months of inventory. The median sales price year to date has increased to $840,000 from only $740,000 compared to this time of year in 2010. There are currently 10 properties under binder, and 18 properties under contract.

Wilton also saw major reductions in inventory with only 4.1 months of inventory currently compared to 9.4 months at this time last year. There have only been 48 new properties that have come to the market compared to 71 at this time last year. Sales are up 25% over last year’s early total. The median sold price is down 6.8% from this time last year, standing currently at $825k, just a bit below Weston, which often has very similar statistics.

Fairfield has also seen a major decline in inventory, from 6.4 months at this time in 2010 to the current level of 3.9 months. There have only been 122 new properties that have come to the market compared to 261 at this time last year. There has been a marked uptick in contracted properties with 89 properties under contract now as compared to only 71 at this time last year. There are an additional 47 properties under Binder, including several over $2m, which may be an indication of a strengthening of the higher end in Fairfield, which showed signs of weakness in 2010.
Buyer demand appears to be strong.

The average days on market in all towns is significantly higher than in years past which is reflective of a large number of homes that have been on the market for more than 180 days. The months of March and April 2010 saw a sudden surge of buying interest, and early signs of activity may be forecasting a similar result.