Confidence has returned for those looking to buy their piece of the American Dream. And the place to buy a house is Westport, according to Multiple Listing Service figures.
“Many people”™s thoughts to enter the market began to be realized in those first two weeks of the year,” said Virginia Klein, owner of RE/MAX Heritage in Westport. “Now is when people decide to pull the trigger on plans from the fall. Over the last few years many people have decided to hold off, but this looks to be the year to take the plunge.”
John Bolduc, CEO of the Eastern Connecticut Association of Realtors in Norwich, said the trend of dropping demand for the median single-family house has begun to reverse.
“We”™ve become used to seeing prices drop because of a decrease in demand, but not anymore,” Bolduc said. “There are buyers out there with real intentions and real money to put down.”
According to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) the first six months of closings in Greenwich in 2010 averaged 34 per month. In the first two weeks of the year there are currently 58 properties under contract in Greenwich.
“These are people who have gone out and put a binder on or have an accepted contract,” said Klein. “We have about two months worth of last year”™s closings showing in a matter of weeks. That”™s an indicator. For the past two years we”™ve been sitting, and waiting for the market to show up, today we see that it is here.”
According to MLS information, Darien”™s monthly average for closings last year in the first six months was 17 per month and Westport”™s was 21; in the first two weeks of January, there were 22 under deposit in Darien and 52 in Westport.
“Westport is the top performer of the standouts,” Klein said. “Westport right now offers the better buy; they have come down in price and are really where the best value is right now.”
According to the Eastern Connecticut Association of Realtors and RE/MAX of New England”™s 2011 Housing Market Outlook and Forecast, single-family home prices are up 2.8 percent for the year. The report showed prices and sales numbers are rising in tandem in Fairfield County, with prices up 13.8 percent for 2010. The majority of first-time homebuyers were shown to have moved from residences in New York City.
“The market is back a bit,” said Ron Brien, real estate lawyer and broker for M.H. Heaven Real Estate in Greenwich and the president of the Greenwich Business Club. “There is quite a contrast from the past few years where there was a market for sellers but not much out there for buyers. A lot of this first wave of buyers is first-time homebuyers who took advantage of the $8,000 Obama tax credit.”
The $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers and the $6,500 tax credit for repeat homebuyers have expired in the summer of 2010.
“It was a small savings, but a savings nonetheless,” Brien said. “A lot of couples are leaving from New York City; even without the credit if you can get a million and five ($1.5 million) house for 800,000 (dollars), it”™s worth it. Out of all the residential levels the ones seeing the greatest comeback are the one million and below homes. Everybody is optimistic, which is great and new, but this recovery of the market is going to take a couple years. There have been improvements in confidence and the economy. Everybody is hoping 2011 will be a better year.”
Brien said residential sales and demand are related and work simultaneously with commercial trends.
“The residential fell first and the commercial followed it,” Brien said. “The commercial market comes back before the residential, but they are still congruous. If you look at Westport, Darien and Greenwich, they are doing really well in commercial and you”™re seeing the residential following in those places.”
All segments of the market “are proportionally selling, and buying,” Klein said. “We”™ve had several years that buying has been put on hold, that has created a climate for price change. Align that with favorable rates, and you see that buyers are deciding that now is the time to make a purchase. We”™ve gone from being afraid to spend money, to many people saying it”™s time, I”™m ready to put my family in a real home. In the markets that we”™re in a lot of it is scale up, scale down and buying in. Many people have been humbled by the market and are more open to buyers.”
She said the inventory that will be coming on the market in the next year will be met with a consistent corresponding demand.
“Waiting very much longer is going to be costly for the person who does not have ownership,” Klein said. “If you”™re at that point where you could buy a house today, it makes sense to try to get in than wait. The time to buy at the absolute bottom is now, and it will go away.”
