Q4 Fairfield County housing market down in single-family and luxury activity

Average sales prices in Fairfield County”™s single-family and luxury housing markets during the fourth quarter of 2018 saw declines while the regional condo market saw a price upswing, according to data released by Douglas Elliman Real Estate.

The average sales price in Fairfield County for all residential properties during the fourth quarter was $592,933, down from $659,259 in the third quarter and down from $696,086 one year earlier. The median sales price of $375,000 was below the third quarter”™s $425,000 and the $390,000 price from the fourth quarter of 2017.

The number of closed sales for the fourth quarter totaled 2,632, a drop from the 3,339 sales in the third quarter and the 2,743 from the previous year. The average number of days on market totaled 113 in the fourth quarter, compared to 82 in the third quarter and 129 in the fourth quarter of 2017. Listing inventory in the fourth quarter totaled 4,172, down from 5,535 in the previous quarter but up from 3,839 in the previous year.

The average sales price for a single-family Fairfield County home in the fourth quarter was $677,398, a drop from $763,162 in the third quarter. The average during the fourth quarter of 2017 was $810,272. The median single-family sales price in the fourth quarter was $420,000, down from the $500,000 in the previous quarter and the $457,000 price from one year earlier. A total of 1,960 single-family homes were sold in the fourth quarter, below the 2,547 in the previous quarter and 2,067 in the previous year.

In the county”™s luxury market, the average fourth-quarter sales price was $2.3 million, a slide from the $2.39 million in the third quarter and the $2.98 million price from one year earlier. The median sales price of $1.8 million was under the $1.9 million level from the third quarter and the $2.2 million level one year earlier. Sales activity totaled 267 properties, compared to 338 properties in the previous quarter and the 279 properties sold in the fourth quarter of 2017.

The average sales price for condos in Fairfield County during the fourth quarter was $346,068, an uptick from the third quarter”™s $324,328 but slightly lower than the $346,941 price recorded one year ago. The median sales price of $258,000 was below the previous quarter”™s $275,000 and was slightly under the $258,500 price from one year earlier. There were 673 condos sold in the fourth quarter, lower than the 794 condos sold in the third quarter and only three less than the 676 transactions from the previous year.

Among the Fairfield County submarkets, Greenwich recorded the highest average sales price for a single-family home at $2.29 million, higher than the $2.27 million price in the previous quarter but below the previous year”™s $2.82 million. For the condo market, New Canaan recorded an average sales price of $1.24 million based on five closed sales. The fourth quarter average sales price was 86 percent above the third quarter level of $665,786 and 104 percent above the $607,833 level from the fourth quarter of 2