Some New Canaan Market Stats

I was checking a few things and I noted some points regarding a slight pickup in the market.
The median sales price for homes in New Canaan for Aug 10 to Oct 10 was $1,408,750. This represents an increase of 4.4%, or $58,750, compared to the prior quarter and an increase of 34.2% compared to the prior year. Sales prices have depreciated 2.8% over the last 5 years in 06840, New Canaan.
Average listing price for homes in New Canaan was $2,365,529 for the week ending Nov 24, which represents an increase of 2.2%, or $50,563 compared to the prior week and an increase of 1.9%, or $43,667, compared to the week ending Nov 03. Average price per square foot for homes in 06840 was $460 in the most recent quarter.






. .

Wall St Journal. May Home Sales Skyrocket in Connecticut

Click on the title to read the story

Is this the spring market?

As we approach the end of March, which would traditionally be the beginning of the spring market, the activity certainly has not sprung yet. However, there is some movement with the market, but not the flurry of activity that some of us would like.  The single family home inventory in New Canaan is beginning to climb. As of today there are 237 homes on the market which is up from last month and that is due to the 31 new listings which came on the market this month, which does not include any homes that were relisted.  We have 10 new pending contracts (not terrible) and there were also 9 sales.  The properties that closed were:

110 Forest St $419,000
17 Strawberry Hill $850,000
45 Weeburn Drive $1,050,000
226 Putnam Rd $1,400,000
198 North Wilton Rd $1,450,000
498 Valley Rd $1,637,500
82 Arrowhead Trail $2,275,000
34 Brookwood Lane $3,200,000
945 Oenoke Lane $3,815,000

Of these sales, the average selling price was $1,788,500 with a list to sell ratio of 94.95%. They were on the market for an average of 199 days.

If you are thinking of selling your home this year, act soon before the inventory continues to climb and before any significant mortgage interest rate rises which discourage buyers.  And most importantly, price accordingly. Look at the recent sales, not the prices of homes on the market because the homes on the market are the ones that have not sold.

New Canaan's Spring Market

In more active years in the real estate market, the barometer of how active the real estate activity reacted, would be the increase in showings in the month of February.  Since we are no longer in the boom years of the real estate cycle, we have returned to anticipating a normal spring market. Sales are slowly but steadily increasing and buyer activity is markedly up and the pleasant and warm springlike weather this week certainly helped bring out the buyers. Today I had 2 open houses and had a good turnout on both.
The next two weeks before Easter will be a test for how strong the spring market 2010 will be.

First Day of Spring 2010  Mead Park New Canaan, Ct   March 20, 2010

New Housing Data Matrix for New Canaan. Check it out.

William Raveis Real Estate

New Canaan, How is the real estate market doing so far this year?

Mead Park February 27, 2010, the morning after the snowstorm

The answer is much better. While the average selling price of single family homes in New Canaan has decreased over 20% in the last year, the activity in the market has certainly been on an ascent since the summer of 2009.

After the first two months of this year, we have 211 homes on the market but we have already had 16 closings. These sales have ranged from a low of $597,000 to a high of $2,676,000 which relates to a median price of $1,581,000 and an average price of $1,593,000. The average days on the market for these sales took 263 days and these homes sold for 91.84% of listing price.
While on the surface, these statistics do not look impressive, compared to the same period last year (2009) there were only 2 closings at $1,070,000 and $1,150,000.

Condos are also on a similar rise. While there was only one sale during this time period in 2009, there have already been 5 condominium closings with an average price of $500,000.

Even more encouraging is the trend of land sales which have virtually come to a standstill over 2009 because of the reluctance of builders to purchase more land to start building new homes. Their reluctance was also due to the fact that they also had unsold inventory which needed to be moved before they could have the funding to start anything new. The credit crisis and the timidness of buyers certainly did depress the new home sales. However, builders are starting to put their toe into the market again slowly. So far this year, there have already been land sales. 92 Parish Rd listed at $1,150,000 is pending, 585 Canoe Hill Rd has closed at $1,450,000 and 388 Weed Street had closed at $1,300,000. In addition, a builder has purchased my listing at 74 Thayer Drive for $735,000 and is planning to build a new home or a major renovation and another builder has purchased 216 Carter Street for $1,800,000. I believe he plans to knock down the existing home, subdivide the 5.5 acre property and build new. I also have another builder who is in the process of purchasing a home that is a short sale and will also be developing that property.

I believe we will continue to see sales closing along these levels with an increase in sales volume somewhat in the summer as June, July and August are the peak closing months. It is doubtful there will be an increase in prices but I also doubt a serious decline in price either. With mortgage interest levels still at record lows, we should be able to trade properties with consistency which is more important to a return to a real estate market in balance.

New Canaan Real Estate Activity Feb 14, 2010 through Feb 21, 2010

It was a very quiet week in New Canaan. No real estate closings took place, however there were 5 new listings and 3 new pending contracts.

Pending Contracts
3 Meeting Grove Place $1,095,000
55 Running Brook Rd $1,985,000
82 Arrowhead Lane $2,395,000

New Listings
179 Ponus Ridge $899,999
1134 Weed St $1,625,000
152 Weed St $1,650,000
and 2 more that are noteworthy in respect to being unique with some interesting features.

174 Fox Run just listed at $1,595,000 by Brotherhood and Higley Real Estate was built in 1969 and has 3920 sq ft and 4 bedrooms. It is located on 2 acres overlooking a pond.

11 Whitney Ave is listed at $1,275,000  by William Raveis Real Estate and is located on .18 acres right in the heart of town. It is a converted barn built in 1889 with 4 bedrooms and some rental apartment space.