SOLD 2009
The New Canaan Real Estate market took a wild ride last year. After a steep run up in prices in the first half of the decade, home values started to level off. Then in September of 2008 as a result of the national credit crisis affecting the entire country, home sales in New Canaan slowed to a grinding halt. As a result, there were no sales at all in January 2009 and the remaining of the first quarter 2009 was also pretty dismal with ten sales in total for the quarter representing a drop of 66%.
Not much change in April 2009 with only 6 sales but in May and June, activity started to pick up with 17 sales in each month resulting in 40 sales for the second quarter as compared to 54 sales in 2008 reflecting a decline of 26% for that quarter.
However, as prices continued to fall and fixed mortgage rates were sitting at record lows, sales improved through the summer and created some wonderful opportunities for bargain hunters. As the third quarter finished in September 2009, there were 66 sales which represented an increase from 62 sales in 2008.
The fourth quarter finished the year with a substantial gain over 2008. There were 35 sales as compared to only 14 in 2008.
Tallying up the sales for the year 2009 we had 151 transactions as compared to 163 in 2008, representing a decline in sales of only 7.4%. Compared to the disappointing way the year started out, this is a surprising but encouraging ending and indications are that we will continue to see moderate activity in the early start of this year.
Selling prices however did not fare as well here in New Canaan. The average selling price for 2009 was $1,678,379 as compared to $2,120,804 in 2008. representing a decline of 21% in prices which parallels national home prices which also simarly declined.
Of the 151 sales in New Canaan, the average days on the market was 201 which was an increase of 18 days over the 2008 average of 183 days and the average list to sell ratio was 90% in 2009 as compared to 95% in 2008.
Regarding the condo market, there were 31 condo sales with an average price of $720,629 down from $908,363 in 2008. The average days on the market were 215 days with a 92% list to sell ratio in 2009.
Even though we did see a marked drop in home prices, the more encouraging news is that the New Canaan Real Estate Market activity sprang back significantly in the second half of 2009 which is key to returning to a normal marketplace. The real estate market here is very local and while it is interesting to watch the national housing market, it is important to stay on top of the local dynamics here.
