For the first time since the fourth quarter of 2016, Fairfield County”™s housing market recorded an annualized decline in its median sales price, according to new data released by Douglas Elliman Real Estate.
During the second quarter of this year, the median sales price was $425,000, up from $385,000 in the first quarter but down from $445,000 in the second quarter of 2017. The average sales price in Fairfield County during the second quarter was $675,269, up from $636,369 in the previous quarter but down from the $716,845 one year earlier.
The number of closed sales for the second quarter totaled 3,087, which represented a 52.7 percent spike from the 2,021 level set in the first quarter. However, the second quarter”™s total was 7.4 percent lower than the 3,335 figure set one year earlier.
The days on market was 119 for the second quarter, down from the 145 days in the first quarter but higher than the 106 days in second quarter of 2017. Listing inventory in the second quarter totaled 5,853, up from 4,609 in the first quarter but down from 5,972 in the previous year.
Among property types, the average sales price for a single-family Fairfield County home in the second quarter was $765,537, up from the $751,434 price in the previous quarter and down from the second quarter of 2017 price of $819,563. The median sales price in the second quarter was $495,650, up from $466,500 in the previous quarter but below the $525,000 price from one year earlier. A total of 2,388 single-family homes were sold, a 60.9 percent spike from the1,484 level in the first quarter and a decline from the 2,567 homes sold in the second quarter of last year.
The average sales price for condos was $366,883, up from $318,388 in the previous quarter and down from $373,516 one year earlier. The median sales price of $280,000 was higher than the first quarter”™s $250,000 price and only $50 above the $279,950 in the second quarter of 2017. There were 699 condos sold in the first quarter, compared with 768 one year earlier.
In the luxury market, the average second-quarter sales price was $2.56 million, a drop from the $2.6 million in the first quarter and also below the $2.7 million one year earlier. The median sales price of $1.9 million was unchanged from the previous quarter but was below the $2.1 million level one year earlier. Sales activity totaled 313 properties, up from 203 properties sold in the first quarter.
Among the Fairfield County submarkets, Greenwich recorded the highest average sales price for a single-family home at $2.46 million, down from $2.7 million in the previous quarter and up from the $2.34 million one year earlier. For the condo market, Darien had the highest average sales price at $1.5 million, up from $969,167 in the second quarter of 2017. Darien did not record any condo sales in the first quarter of this year.
Scott Elwell, Douglas Elliman”™s senior executive regional manager of Westchester and Connecticut, said a particular type of property was attracting the most attention in Fairfield County. “There is a stronger buyer interest if it is a new condition house that is move-in ready,” he said, adding that a closer proximity to town centers and lower price points also helped pique buyer interest.
