The October Market Report for New Canaan

The 2013 Graph of Listing and Selling Prices

The 2014 Graph of Listing and Selling Prices 

What the heck is happening?

Fall is here and with it should be the busy fall real estate market. But, the year-to-date sales numbers are awful: down 16% year to date, down 18% in the quarter and down 50% for the month. Sellers are scratching their heads and beginning to lower prices in response to a relatively high absorption rate of 11 months (vs. 9 last year) and inventory of 240 houses (vs. 200 at this time last year)

This is a comparison of the last two years of listing prices in New Canaan. The green spike in the middle of 2014 was a result of the sale of Beau Chateau ($14mm) and the Moellintine sale ($6.4mm) on Oenoke Ridge, both many years in the making. The sale of large homes causes the average and median sale price to rise and with it comes seller expectations. Now, after low volume in the June, July and August months we are seeing sellers reduce for the Fall season.

There is some energy in the market. Twenty-one houses went pending in September, almost double that of September, 2013. The total number of houses sold is down about 10% in Fairfield County but particularly in New Canaan. Perhaps its because our median sale price is way up. As has been the case all year the condo market in New Canaan remains very strong. For evidence see the third quarter condo list-to-sale price ratio, which for condos in New Canaan was just shy of 100%. 

Below is a link to our New Canaan Market Report recapping September and the first 9 months of 2014. If you would like to call and discuss the report, or if you would like a price opinion on your house, feel free to let us know. Susan can be reached at 203-247-5999, and John at 203-247-4700.

Best regards,

Susan Engel and John Engel

Single Family: Absorption is at 11 months versus 9 at this time in 2013

Single Family: Sold to List Ratio seems Normal at 94% of Original Price

Condo Sales: Sold to List Ratio for the Condo Market is Stunning at 100%

For the full market report, click here.

Real Estate Photography and Why it Matters

I'm a pretty good photographer so I ran out in the afternoon and took this shot. I absolutely had to have a picture of this house right away. Problems:

- there are no shadows so the house looks particularly flat

- can't have a white sky behind a white house

- the green trees look gray

- the shades are drawn so the house looks uninviting 

- note the parallax distortion caused by a wide angle lens. The wall on the left is not perpendicular. Bad.

In this second attempt, we had our blue sky. Great. Unfortunately, this shot was too much about:

- the cracks in the driveway dominate the shot

- there is a huge shadow on the garage and a smaller shadow on the front of the house

- more shadows on the green grass

Finally, a shot we could use. Note:

- the interesting sky. Not a blue sky but it gives us a little bit of contrast making the white house whiter.

- the window shades are up

- the lights are on, giving the shot a bit of life

- the trees are green

- the driveway cracks are not dominating the foreground

- the second tree on the right provides nice contrast in color with the first and with the house.

JC Martin took this shot, added the sky and color-corrected it. That's why I use a professional. Thank you J.C.

 To see all of the beautiful shots of this house, please visit 624WeedSt.com.

Comparing Two Years of House Sales by Neighborhood in New Canaan

I just crunched the numbers on the last two years of closed listings in New Canaan. 

I sorted the list by school zone: East, South and West

Fascinating spreadsheet.

South East West

Original Asking $1,571,742. $1,861,635 $2,350,986.

Final Asking $1,543,084. $1,784,402 $2,265,602.

Sold Price  $1,489,605. $1,702,498 $2,129,125.

Percentage of Orig   94.77% 91.45% 90.56%

Avg. Town Hall Feet 3872 4248 4143

Price Per Foot $384. $400. $513.

The West side commands a higher average price-per-foot than the other two neighborhoods.

South side has slightly smaller houses on smaller lots. This could account for some of the difference.

This spreadsheet is 520 sales between Sept 17, 2012 and Sept 17, 2014.

I was thinking of looking at the average age of houses in each neighborhood.

Perhaps a higher price per foot can be attributed to more recent construction in the West school neighborhood. 

In the East, 172 sales, the average age is 1957.

In the South, 159 sales, the average age is 1962.

In the West, 186 sales, the average age is 1967.

(three sales were labelled "other")

Midnight Houses Today - 16 Midcentury Modern Houses in New Canaan to be released October 21

“The mother art is architecture. Without architecture of our own we have no soul of our own civilization”

- Frank Lloyd Wright

Oh, it's like Harry Potter mania all over again. I am excited about a book release.

Let me be the first to congratulate New Canaan's Cristina Ross on the publishing of her new book, Midnight Houses Today, to be released by the Monacelli Press on October 21st. The book focuses on 16 midcentury moderns in New Canaan.

The book launch party is scheduled for October 25th at the New Canaan Historical Society.

The Harvard Five in New Canaan, the last book on the subject, was written by our own Bill Earls and released in July 2006. Since that time interest in the modern houses in New Canaan has increased significantly. Tours of the Philip Johnson Glass House go on sale in the Spring and sell out the whole season faster than a Bruce Springsteen concert. 

For tickets to the Glass House, go here: tickets

Philip Johnson's Wiley House of 1952-1953

This video on the moderns in New Canaan was produced this summer by our intern at The Realty Guild, Finley Walker, and features footage of many of the modern homes as well as interviews of the director of the Glass House and modern architects James Evans and Laszlo Papp.

Video: 5 Reasons to Live In New Canaan: Reason #2 Modern Architecture

Want to Open a Restaurant? New Canaan has Options For Restaurants of All Sizes

Just listed:

A profitable little restaurant on Elm for $295,000.  To get more information about exactly how profitable this restaurant is you'll have to sign a confidentiality statement (I did) but if you are looking for a restaurant location and you can do it in 1200 feet then this might be the ticket.

For more information call me 203-247-4700

However, for those of you who are a little more ambitious, maybe want your patrons to sit down while they eat then I can recommend another restaurant location of 2300 ft on Main Street asking $575,000.  It seats about 80 and that should be enough to keep you in the black. Happy cooking.

In addition, there are two other commercial listings advertising the possibility of food service in the downtown. However, they are not offering freezers and equipment and are offered as empty shells.

Finally, the Red Mango location seems to be vacant so I am not sure if this listing to sell that business is still valid.

This 1891 Colonial is Smack Dab in the Middle of Town

And it's even prettier on the inside than outside.  This house is opposite the beautiful old red brick St. Aloysius Church and the lovely tudor they call "the Math House". Sited back from the road, this house enjoys tranquility and peace not usually found in the downtown.

Many of us imagine ourselves one day downsizing from that big house in the country to the ease of condo living downtown in New Canaan where we can walk to the restaurants, shopping and the train.  But, most of the condos in New Canaan were built between 1968 and 1980 and so many of the condos in town lack the style and sophistication of some of the house we are leaving.

I think that is what makes this condo so special. This has all of the charm of a beautiful antique house, and the spacious gardens, but without the maintenance headaches of an older home.

Inside, note the arched doorways. Note the woodwork around the original French doors. 

Note the U.S. Grant-style fireplace, the built-in bookcases and the wide-board floors.

All of these architectural details combine to give the feeling of refined elegance and hand-crafted detail not found in today's condominiums.

Offered by John Engel and Susan Engel for $1.125 million. For more information and more photographs, please visit http://www.29MapleSt.com  

To arrange a showing call 203-247-5999 for Susan or 203-247-4700 for John.

Beautiful Light Filled Colonial with 2 Private Acres on a Private West Side Cul de Sac

This is the American Dream, right? At least, it was for a lot of us growing up. Remember, for awhile I lived in Manhattan and we moved out to New Canaan when I was 12 to a pretty little antique on a quarter acre.

This five bedroom colonial with about 2 acres of flat land on a sunny cul-de-sac full of kids. Ride your bike down to the circle. Barbecue on the flagstone patio in the back. Wait on the covered front porch for the bus to pick you up in the morning. It's all here.

Inside, there is a drop-down living room that means extra height for the ceiling and windows. Very nice. White marble surround on the fireplace. Bright hardwood floors. Views of the spacious backyard and woods beyond.

Maybe I am biased, but I've been really excited to work on selling this listing. I know this is what everybody wants. People who move to New Canaan often want to be close to the village, but not so close that they hear the garbage trucks and the train whistle. They want a little bit of land, and preferably flat. They want to be on the West side because they think it's going to shave a few minutes off of their commute to New York City. This house is the whole package.

For more information go visit http://www.106DunningRd.com and look at all the pictures and read up about this house. Then, make an appointment with either John Engel (203) 247-4700 or Susan Engel (203) 247-5999 to come see it. You don't want to let this one get away.

Offered by John Engel and Susan Engel for $2.250 million.