2012 Westport CT Real Estate Forecast, Advice and 2011 Recap

The year ahead looks quite promising! Historically, presidential elections have brought about increased real estate activity, and coupled with low interest rates and increasing consumer confidence, I expect that 2012 will far surpass 2011's sales in volume, although it does not appear that any major price adjustments are in the midst any time soon.

Anticipate a few minor "bumps" to contend with come Spring and early summer, when it is expected that we will begin to see Westport's shadow inventory coming on to the market,and competing with owners wishing to sell their homes.

The same segments of the market that fared better than others this past year will most likely continue to outperform their much larger and pricier counterparts in the year ahead. National trends are showing that buyers are opting for smaller homes, and locally, 2011 has shown that buyers have gotten much more conservative as well. That trend isn't going away in 2012. The upper end properties are still in danger of continuing their decline in value.

Best bets for selling for top dollar in the year ahead are three and four bedroom homes and homes between 2000-3000 square feet.

Best bets for buyers are where the market has suffered, and they are apt to get a better deal. At the top of the list would be any home over 7,500 square feet, homes with six bedrooms or more, then followed by new construction homes.

Bottom Line: Expect your home to hold its value throughout the year, with only minor price increases or declines in pricing in segmented markets, except for the larger, upper tier properties, where there is a higher risk of continued decline. This past year's activity has defined buyer's conservative sentiment in the marketplace, and is apt to continue in much the same fashion in the year ahead.

2011 Recap:

We had quite an interesting statistical year for real estate in Westport. Looking at raw year over year figures from 2011 to 2010, one might initially think we  suffered a nearly eight percent loss in value last year, but I would argue against that. In my opinion, the average decline in value is much closer to four percent, and this decline was not across the board.

The biggest winners in town were:

+6/1% - four bedroom homes   
+3.7% - 2501-3000 sf homes  
+2.1% - three bedroom homes  
+1.8% - 2001-2500 sf homes   

The homes most affected were:

(-16.0%) - 7501+ sf homes
(-12.5%) - 0-1500 sf homes  
(-7.7%)  - New construction
(-7.6%)  - Homes with six bedrooms or more

In 2011 the average sale price of a single family home was $1,338,229, and in 2010 the average sales price was $1,445,007. Looking at those raw figures and doing the math, it looks like an eight percent drop without delving any further into details, but one particular sale throws the whole equation out of probable proportion.

Westport's total sales volume of just over $460 million was down by 47 million from 2010, however that one sale in 2010 represented over 42 percent of the total difference. The $20 million dollar sale that occurred in October 2010 on 124 Beachside Avenue is really somewhat of an anomaly, being over fifteen times the average sales price, and that must be addressed while gathering information. It should not be used in determining year over year pricing percentages when calculating differences between the two. When we take that home out of the mix, the overall decline is much more like four percent from 2010. Many towns were hit much harder in pricing and in overall volume.

There were 344 single family home sales in 2011 as reported in our local MLS system, and we fell short by the previous year's totals by only seven sales. Let's count our blessings. While it's not as good as beating 2010's totals, our neighboring towns don't even come close. Wilton's unit volume dropped 7.9 percent. Fairfield, Weston and Norwalk all dropped at least 14 percent, and Easton's sales plummeted by 49 percent.

Seven Year Annual Westport  Real Estate Market Recap

If you have a question about buying or selling Real Estate in Westport, and are in need of representation, I invite you to contact me. I know the market like the back of my hand, know marketing inside and out, am a skilled negotiator- and I'd love to be on your side :)   - Judy