Brown Harris Stevens
This past year, Lower Fairfield County's real estate market was shaped by a reduced number of available homes, forcing buyers to navigate a highly competitive environment, particularly in the fourth quarter.
“Throughout the year, inventory has been the central challenge, and the fourth quarter certainly reflected that,” says Brian Cleary, Connecticut Market Specialist for Brown Harris Stevens.
Despite slight improvements early in the year, the number of homes available in the fourth quarter remained 8% lower than during the same period last year, and a significant 77% below pre-pandemic levels of 2019. Contributing to this was a notable 8% year-over-year drop in new listings. This tightening of inventory wasn’t isolated to our area alone; in November, Connecticut was noted as having the largest reduction in inventory since 2019 of any state in the U.S., according to the National Association of Realtors.
“We’ve dealt with this constraint all year, but it’s notable that, despite this, Lower Fairfield County had an increase in sales compared to last year,” says Chris Halstead, Brown Harris Stevens’ Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Sales in Connecticut. “It speaks to the strong demand for homes in our area.”
The fourth quarter closed with 1,235 house and condo sales, up 5% from last year, though still marking the second-lowest total for a 4th quarter since 2012. Homes sold at an accelerated pace, with the average days on market for combined house and condo sales dropping to an all-time 4th-quarter low of 46, down 21% from the previous year.?Impressively, over half of these sales (53%) closed above the asking price, with another 11% meeting the asking price.
"Pending sales also mirrored this rapid market pace, averaging just 63 days to contract, down 23% from last year," Cleary adds.
This strong buyer competition also pushed prices upward. The median house sale price for the quarter increased by 5% year-over-year to $1.1M, and condo prices went up by 4% to $480K. According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Fairfield County’s home values increased by 7.2% in the third quarter, its most recent home values metric, ranking it as the 20th biggest increase among the nation’s 100 largest metro areas.
Looking ahead, mortgage rates continue to be a pivotal factor. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate in December was 6.72%, up from September’s 6.18%, which was a two-year low. However, since October of 2022, the average rate has actually been 6.75%, and many economists now suggest that rates might stabilize in the mid-6% range for much of 2025.
“It will be interesting to see what this means for sales in 2025,” says Halstead. “But my interpretation is that predictability is a good thing, for both buyers and sellers.”
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