National reports where we hear and read about double digit housing price declines, do not apply to our local market. Even within Fairfield County, individual towns perform differently. Overall, single family homes within Fairfield County that are listed on the Greater Fairfield County mls show a 7.6% decrease in median selling price during the January/February 2008 period vs the same period during 2007. 642 homes closed during the first two months of this year vs 917 last year, a decrease of 30%. There are 573 under contract without contingencies, just waiting to close and 332 homes with accepted offers and open contingencies. There are 5197 homes actively listed for sale. That represents roughly a 16 month supply of homes.
The upper price tier continues to perform well. 5% of homes sold this year were at $2MM or more vs 4.7% in 2007. The highest sale was $6,750,000 for a home in Darien and the lowest was $11,200 for a mobile home in Danbury. 12% of those homes under contract are listed at $2,000,000 or higher.
To give you an example of the variances between towns, contrary to the county-wide performance, the unit sales in Westport, Weston and Easton were even with last year and the median selling prices in those towns was higher than the same period last year. In Wilton unit sales dropped 16% but median price increased. Unit sales in Fairfield also declined while the median price increased.
Inventory is strong, interest rates are near a 40 year low and some sellers are motivated. This is a great time to buy a house. For owners who are contemplating selling within the next year or so, I suggest staging their homes to get top dollar, making their homes easily accessible to agents for showings and listing as quickly as possible before the inventory builds during late spring. It is also more critical now than ever to hire an experienced and knowledgeable agent to represent them and help them avoid the hurdles that can be encountered in this market.
Please contact me for more information on the housing market and how it directly relates to you, your current home, and your future home.
