The town saw single-family home sales tick up 6 percent year-over-year in August, while the median price of those homes increased by 10 percent, to $1,565,000, according to new data from the New Canaan Board of Realtors.
Inventory of single-family homes is down 12 percent year-over-year, with 281 homes on the market at the end of August compared to 319 one year ago, the board’s data says.
Joe Scozzafava, president of the New Canaan Board of Realtors, called the figures “encouraging for sellers” and “good indicators,” though he cautioned that “one month’s stats are not a trend.”
“Also, last year August was a slower-than-average month so the increases may just be a return to normalcy,” Scozzafava said.
Here’s a snapshot of the single-family home data from last month:
New Canaan: Single Family Home Sales, August 2017**
Units Sold | |||
---|---|---|---|
Total | 19 | 18 | 6% |
August '17 | August '16 | % change | |
$0 to $999,999 | 5 | 1 | 400% |
$1 milion to $1.99 million | 10 | 14 | -29% |
$2 milion to $2.99 million | 2 | 2 | no change |
$3 million to $5 million | 2 | 0 | NA |
$5 million+ | 0 | 1 | -100% |
**Does not include condos
Year-to-date, the median sales price of single-family homes is down 9 percent—$1,450,000 this year compared to $1,590,000 at the end of August last year, according to the Board of Realtors.
Meanwhile, the year-to-date median sales price of a condominium is up 23 percent year-over-year—$730,000 versus $592,000—though there were 24 percent more condo units on the market at the end of this August (57) compared to last (46), the board’s data says.
“Condominium sales were very sluggish with only two units sold” in August, Scozzafava said. “Median price was also down but with only two sales both in the sub-$500,000 range, the price data is not meaningful.”
He continued: “Inventory of single-family homes is down 12 percent but we still have about 16 months of supply. We need sales to increase and inventory to decrease before we will see what we consider to be a strong market.”
Here’s a look at the condominium market in New Canaan for August:
New Canaan: Condominium Sales, August 2017
Units Sold | |||
---|---|---|---|
Total | 2 | 2 | no change |
August '17 | August '16 | % change | |
$0 to $499,999 | 2 | 2 | no change |
$500,000 to $999,000 | 0 | 0 | NA |
$1 million to $1.99 million | 0 | 0 | NA |
$2 million+ | 0 | 0 | NA |
“In the condo market, inventory is up considerably and especially in the high end,” meaning $2 million-plus, Scozzafava said. “Anecdotally there appears to be good activity at open houses and showings at some of these new luxury units. We will watch this segment closely for the rest of the year.”
The story is the median sales price of single family homes is down 9% while nationwide up 6.2%. No matter how they try there is no way to sugar coat that fact. Until the state gets its financial house in order and our town spendthrifts stop raising taxes this trend will continue.