COVID-19 may have paralyzed much of the economy during the second quarter, but Fairfield County”™s housing market came out of the period with significantly higher sales prices, according to data released by Douglas Elliman Real Estate.
The average sale price in Fairfield County for all residential properties during the second quarter was $726,270, a major spike from the first quarter”™s $602,811 and higher than the $639,033 price in the second quarter of 2019. The median sale price of $460,000 was up from the $395,000 price in the previous quarter and the $420,000 price set one year earlier.
The second quarter, there were 2,738 closed sales on all residential properties. This was an increase from the 2,125 transactions in the first quarter but down from the 3,099 sales in the second quarter of 2019. The average number of days on the market totaled 136, down from 142 in the previous quarter but higher than the 121 days set in the previous year.
SINGLE-FAMILY PROPERTIES
During the second quarter, the average sale price for a single-family Fairfield County home was $817,697, up from the $687,785 price in the first quarter and also higher than the $733,321 in the second quarter of 2019. The median single-family sale price of $519,900 was above the $450,000 price in the preceding quarter and higher than the $485,128 price from one year ago.
A total of 2,209 single-family homes were sold in the second quarter, a dramatic rise from the 1,164 sales in the previous quarter but lower than the 2,383 transactions from one year earlier. Single-family homes stayed on the market for an average of 143 days, compared with 149 days in the first quarter and 129 days in last year”™s second quarter.
CONDOMINIUMS
In Fairfield County”™s condominium market, the average sale price in the second quarter was $344,489, up slightly from the first quarter”™s $334,417 and above the $325,221 price of one year earlier. The median sale price of $275,000 was down from the previous quarter”™s $280,000, but higher than the $263,200 price in the previous year.
The second quarter saw 529 sales compared with 511 in the first quarter and 716 one year earlier. The 106 average days on the market was lower than the 119 days in the previous quarter but up from the 96 days in the previous year.
LUXURY MARKET
In Fairfield County”™s luxury market ”“ which combines single-family properties and condos ”“ the second quarter”™s average sale price of $2.75 million was up from the first quarter”™s $2.19 million and higher than the $2.36 million of one year earlier. The median sales price of $2.3 million rose from the previous quarter”™s $1.72 million and the $1.94 million from the previous year.
The luxury housing sector saw 274 closed sales, compared with 214 transactions in the preceding quarter and 310 sales one year earlier. Luxury properties spent an average of 242 days on the market in the second quarter, compared to 225 in the first quarter and 210 days in last year”™ second quarter.
Among the Fairfield County submarkets, Greenwich recorded the highest average second-quarter sales price for a single-family home at $2.7 million and Darien the highest average sale price for condominiums at $1.05 million.
Jennifer Leahy, Greenwich-based founder of The Jennifer Leahy Team at Douglas Elliman, predicted that Fairfield County home prices will not decline any time soon.
“I think we’ll probably see a continued increase in pricing,” she said. “There’s just a demand now that we’ve never seen before. There are people coming out in droves.”
Leahy added that much of the second quarter transaction involved New Yorkers eager to escape from their state for a Connecticut utopia.
“The property taxes are much lower than our neighbors in Westchester,” she said. “And compared to New York City, it is much lower. A million bucks might buy you a small two-bedroom in the city, but out here for a million dollars you can get a house. When I’m looking in the luxury markets for $4 million, you can get a house with a pool and a pool house. So, there are a lot of benefits of coming out here and having fresh air and a piece of earth.”
