Fairfield County’s residential sellers are taking a more realistic approach now that the market is cooling.
These sellers are being more flexible with their sale prices. They don’t have much choice on this.
“The market was very slow for awhile,” said Ken DelVecchio, a broker with RE/MAX Heritage in Fairfield. “There was an increase in inventory and so sellers are more negotiable now.”
Single-family homes and condominiums both experienced a drop in price over the third quarter of 2005.
Connecticut’s Consolidated Multiple Listing Service reported 401 single-family sales in the third quarter of 2006 with a median price of $733,250, compared to 561 sales in the same period of 2005 with a median of $750,000.
Condos also fell, from 313 sales in the third quarter of 2005 with a median of $347,500 to 239 sales in the same quarter of 2006 with a median of $340,000.
Eric Bjork, the vice president of Prudential Connecticut Realty, noted that Greenwich in particular is “by no means the disaster that’s occurred in other parts of the country. Our inventory is up about 15 percent and our unit sales are down about 12 to 15 percent, but our average price is still up.”
Bjork added that high-priced sales have remained strong all year, since those are an insulated segment of the market. During a slower period such as the market is now experiencing, it is the upward-climbing property owners who become most stuck. Those seeking to sell their current property and purchase another with a higher price lose their mobility when the market sinks.
Bjork also noted that two major Greenwich developments, Putnam Green and Weaver’s Hill, converted rentals into condominiums, tightening the rental market and pushing condo inventory up by more than 350 units. Both have experienced slow sales, he said.