You can look at January 2018 Greenwich real estate sales as the glass half-full or half-empty. On the good news side contracts are up over January 2017 by 6 contracts for a total of 75 contracts.
Now while this is not a big jump, it is still very good news as there was lots of hand wringing over whether folks would buy in a high tax state like Connecticut. The answer is that they will and that they will continue to do so at the high-end.
Over $5 million dollars we saw 5 sales in January up from only 2 sales last January. The better news is that we have 10 contracts over $5 million that are also waiting to close which is up 2 contracts from the end of January last year.
| Section |
Sales |
Sum of OLP |
Sum of SP |
Avg of SP/Assmt |
Avg of $/SF |
| Cos Cob |
3 |
$3,077,400 |
$2,903,557 |
1.73 |
$ 424 |
| Glenville |
2 |
$1,594,000 |
$1,475,000 |
1.70 |
$ 398 |
| North Parkway |
4 |
$23,820,000 |
$19,476,000 |
1.37 |
$ 733 |
| Old Greenwich |
4 |
$8,317,500 |
$7,050,500 |
2.07 |
$ 520 |
| Pemberwick |
2 |
$1,489,000 |
$1,288,000 |
1.83 |
$ 738 |
| Riverside |
3 |
$4,089,000 |
$3,939,000 |
1.58 |
$ 561 |
| South of Post Road |
4 |
$12,097,000 |
$8,489,000 |
1.37 |
$ 577 |
| South Parkway |
8 |
$41,225,000 |
$35,707,500 |
1.30 |
$ 669 |
| Grand Total |
30 |
$95,708,900 |
$80,328,557 |
1.55 |
$ 592 |
Theses sales also made the backcountry look good where 4 house sales totaled $19,476,000. South of the Parkway, which is our largest area by far, we had 8 sales for a total of $35,707,500. So, these 2 areas totaled $55,183,5000 in sales, while all 6 other areas in Greenwich had sales only totaled $25,145,057. People are investing in mid-country and backcountry.
Jan. ’18 vs. Jan. ‘17
Now for those glass half empty types we have some bad news for you to be concerned about. Sales for the month were down 12 houses to a total of 30 houses sold; this is down from 42 house sales last year. This near 30% drop in sales was also focused in the heart of our market. With all price ranges from $1 – 4 million down. In all we were down 20 house sales in this price range from last year.
At the moment we have 500 house listings on the market and 299 of them are in this $1 – 4 million price range. With sales down, months of supply was up. The biggest increase in MoS was in the $1.5 – 2.0 million price range where we saw an almost two years jump in supply.
Now you needn’t worry too much about. In that same $1 – 4 million price range we have 49 contracts waiting to close. The same $1.5 – 2 million price range that had the biggest jump in months of supply has 10 contracts waiting to close which is up 4 house contracts from last year. Add the contracts in and MoS is only up four months. The other reason is that one swallow does not make a summer. One month is just too short to get any good statistics other than some early indicators.
The sales were also spread out throughout the town with 8 sales South of the Parkway, and 4 sales each North of the Parkway, in Old Greenwich and South of the Post Road. We are also getting lots of good inventory coming on the market. So far this month we have 79 new house listings come on the market. Deals are also moving along, some at a pretty rapid pace. So far this year, we have had 17 houses that came on this year already close or go to contract. (I’m putting a very cute, colonial on next week at around $1.1 million. It’s walking distance to the Cos Cob shops and I’ve had several agents tell me it won’t be on the market long at that price.)
Anecdotally, the market seems busy with a variety of people looking. Folks from Westchester County seem to be up, and I’ve seen a bunch from Stamford, both places with higher property taxes than we have here in Greenwich. We have the young NYC families as always in the spring market, but I’ve also seen or heard of transferees from London and NJ, as well as Texas and Holland.
It’s looking like 2018 might be a “normal” year with good demand and a little nice appreciation. Lots of swallows do make a summer.
