There is good news and bad news for the Fairfield County”™s biggest cities with a recent analysis by a global analytics company showing that housing prices are increasing, but foreclosure rates still remain above the national rate.
Data recently released by CoreLogic, a California-based global property information, analytics and data-enabled services provider, indicates home prices in the cities of Bridgeport, Norwalk and Stamford (including distressed sales) are up by 3.1 percent from October 2014 to October 2015.
The increase in prices is expected to continue into 2016, but may slow  by year”™s end, according to Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic.
“Many markets have experienced a low inventory of homes for sale along with strong buyer demand, which is sustaining upward pressure on home prices,” he said. Â “A year from now, as we finish out October 2016, we expect the CoreLogic national Home Price Index appreciation to slow to 5.2 percent.”
According to the online real estate database Trulia, a subsidiary of Zillow, the median home price in Bridgeport ranges between $139,000 and $155,000 and between $329,000 and $399,000 in Norwalk.
Stamford median prices vary widely by location ranging anywhere from $297,000 to $475,000.
However, additional data provided by the company shows that while foreclosure rates have decreased among outstanding mortgage loans, down to 1.81 percent in September 2015 from 2.50 percent in September 2014, foreclosure activity in the three cities was higher than the national foreclosure rate, which was 1.23 percent for September 2015.
The foreclosure rate in the three cities is on par with the state rate of 1.82 percent.
According to CoreLogic, county foreclosure rates are highest in the Bridgeport and Stratford regions ”” exceeding 2.8 percent.
Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic warns that while the rise in home prices has been a healthy trend, future increases in home prices could be cause for concern.
“The shadow inventory has been reduced significantly and home equity levels are now approaching pre-recession levels,” he said. “As we move forward, the rise in home prices will need to be better correlated to family income trends over time to avoid homes becoming unaffordable for many. This is especially true in several metropolitan areas where home prices have grown rapidly.”
