The May Market Report - Sales are Up, Even With Last Year, But Pendings are Starting to Slow

34 Urban Street  $739,000 new listing, 3 rental units, wow!  Orchard Hills Condo  $754,000 new listing, under $1mm Pride's Crossing #9  $888,000 walk to town, under $1mm 29 Maple Street condo  $799,000 high-style, new wow price    108 Toby's Lane $1.350    private riverfront retreat   151 East Avenue $1.368   new listing, top-flight condo 285 Havilland Rd $1.389 new listing, gone, already sold it!  289 New Norwalk Rd   $1.68   the best condo at Canaan Close 16 Ravenglass Dr.   $1.649 privacy, a gated community 76 Sturbridge Hill Rd $1.599 2 acres, 5 beds, pool, new price Eliot Noyes  and Bob Graff,  two of the greatest industrial designers. The Noyes-Graff House   $1.78 106 Logan Road   $1.799 great value, pristine   1094 Ponus Ridge $2.08 reduced 20%, wow price!!! The Willis Mills House, 1956 gone, two offers. rented it!! (another modern coming on this week, email for pictures) 242 Wahackme Rd.   $3.40 shingle style and great pool 227 Lambert Road  $4.780 a romantic estate, new price! 31 Deacon's Way $3.888 superb, new listing this week! tour the party barn on Lambert 1271 Oenoke Rdg.   rental $4000   tour this lakeside colonial 309 Park Street $8000 gone, rented both long-term 477 Main Street $7000  gone, rented both long-term video tour by Susan Engel

Friends, How's the market? Everybody is asking. First, some data. 20 houses were sold in April, up from 15 and the most in April since 2007. It allowed us to catch up to where we were last year. Its been a late Spring market. After 4 months we have 51 sales versus 49. We are not in a recession. This is solid sales volume.  The average sale price decreased 14% since this time last year, down from $2.228 million to $1.908 million. This is a result of more sales at the low end of the market.  We have had zero sales over $4 million this year. Zero. That part of the market is struggling. Last year we posted 3 super-sales in the first 4 months. Sales at $11 .7 million and $5.1 million were attributed to large sub-dividable lots while the $4.2 million sale was a beautiful newer home on 4 acres. Instead, this year we've seen 7 sales between $3.0 and $3.75 million, up from 2 at this time last year. New Canaan single family home inventory has increased 37% from 260 to 332. As of the writing of this market report two weeks later that total has climbed to 347. We had predicted a June peak of 370 in our February Market Report and we stand by the prediction because pending sales are down 41% from where they were last year year. Instead of looking forward to 61 sales in the next two months we are on track to sell only 36. Let's break it down... Fairfield County Sales: The number of sales is up 10% across the county with four out of six town posting big gains. Wilton is flat for the year with 43 sales and New Canaan is only up 4.1%. Prices are flat everywhere with no town posting a change of more than 5.6%.  Fairfield County Inventory is up only 4.6% with the only large gains being posted in New Canaan (+21%) and Wilton (13%) While a 4.6% increase does not sound alarming, it is an 8.6% increase in inventory over 2 years which translates to nearly 500 houses. Expect this increase in inventory to have a lagging effect. New Canaan Pending Sales: is our best forward-looking indicator. Looking at the first quarter we saw a 21% decrease in Pending Sales from 43 to 34. That number should be rising to 61. Looking only at the month of April we saw a 37% decline in Pendings which brought us to a four month decline of 41%. This is concerning and something to watch.  Below is a link to the New Canaan May Market Report. If you would like to discuss the report, or if you have any other questions, feel free to contact us at 203-247-4700 (JE) or 203-247-5999 (SE).   Best regards,           John and Susan The inventory is spread across all segments of the market, geographically distributed across all prices, in every style. 20 sales this month, and 51 for the year.  Better than 2015 We will see sales volume peaking at normal levels of $60-$70 million per month in June and July again. Is it surprising that we see normal levels: 120-300? Five years ago we ranged from 141 to 289 days. The absorption rate shows normal house sales rates (243 per year) but an excessive number of listings. Five years ago the graph peaked twice at 15 months. Around 94% is normal. The divergence indicates a buyer's market where seller's are chasing offers. Susan admires the wallpaper at the Noyes-Graff House

New to the Market: 106 Logan Road for $1,799,000

This beautifully renovated 1978 Colonial on Logan Road will be coming on the market next month, March 2016. Enter through a large Entry Foyer to either the large Living Room or a Paneled Library. Featuring a recent Kitchen by Deane, an oversize Family Room with brick Fireplace, an elegant Dining Room with French Doors to the oversized mahogany deck in back. Upstairs there are 4 bedrooms including a Master Suite with walk-in closet, a sitting area and a balcony. Take note of the very fresh, dry and spacious finished lower level with second Family room, home office and wine cellar. While the house is quite fresh and updated, we think the buyer of this house will seek it out with a focus on the land and the exceptional setting. Sited at the end of a long driveway this house is sited on 4.6 acres of privacy with views of the private pond and bordered by 20 acres of Land Trust property. This property is for those who will appreciate getting back to nature with its magnificent specimen trees, perennial gardens and the peace and quiet they give us.