Current Activity

Inventory has slowly been decreasing in the past month or so and there is only a trickle of new listings coming to the market. Sales activity has been limited in the past month or so.

There has been an uptick of activity in single family homes under $600,000 in all of the towns. Fairfield and Norwalk, with a much larger inventory of homes in this price range, have much larger numbers than do Westport, Weston and Wilton.

Looking at yearly figures to date and comparing to 2010, Westport is running almost exactly as it did last year. The only town that continues to be ahead of 2010 figures is Wilton with 162 closed sales in 2011 vs. 146 last year. Weston is running about 10% behind 2010, a slight improvement over figures earlier in the year, and both Fairfield and Norwalk are running 14% behind single family home sales in 2010.

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.