If it seems like there are almost no homes for sale in Westport under $2 million — that’s true.
And if it seems — counter-intuitively — that the one or two houses in that price are not selling — that’s true too.
Our friends at KMS Team at Compass send along some statistics. And insights.
As of April 1, there was one single family home for sale in the $1 million to $1.9 million price range; one between $1.2 million and $1.39 million, and only 4 others under $2 million.
Meanwhile, there were 8 homes in the $2 million to $2.99 million category, and a whopping 41 priced $3 million or more.
This 5-bedroom home on Ridgewood Lane, off Kings Highway North, is priced at $2,955,000 — right in the current market’s “sweet spot.”
Interestingly, all 3 recent sales in the $1-$1.2 million range sat on the market for more than 50 days — despite a wealth of buyers seeking homes at those prices. Two even needed a price drop to sell.
Those homes’ closing prices were 86% of the original list price.
At the same time, homes in the $2-$3 million range spent an average of only 17 days on the market. And they sold at 6.6% over list price.
“When the listing price is perceived too high by the market, homes linger,” KMS Team says.
The ones sitting on the market at the lowest price range have not been “move-in ready.” They need plenty of work, or have location challenges like not being at proper elevation in a flood zone.
Pricing a home is an art. Homes over-priced at the start, KMS says, often miss their target buyer group.
If a homeowner cannot spend over $1 million, for example, they and their agents focus on a lower range — maybe $800,000 to $900,000 — knowing that in this market it often takes more than list price to secure the home.
This 4-bedroom home on Oak Street, off Clinton Avenue, sold last month for $860,000.
Those who do view a home in its overpriced state tend to pass, rather than put in a below-ask offer. While sometimes warranted, people are hesitant to offer anything substantially below the asking price.
Then, when a home is reduced into its correct range, buyers may be hesitant to consider it because of the number of days it’s spent on market.
In the end, KMS says, “a buyer will determine the price of a home based on what they are willing to pay, and a seller is willing to accept.”
But why aren’t those lower-priced homes being sold as teardowns, to hungry developers?
KMS explains, “Builders look at building lots/teardowns not only for the purchase price, but also what price range, in a new construction home, that property could command.
“Construction costs are expensive. They need to be considered now, and possibly several years in the future.”
This 5-bedroom, 8-bathroom house on Hillspoint Road, between Old Mill and Compo Beach, is listed for $11,800,000.
Which leads to … the future.
In these days of economic uncertainty and volatility, what’s ahead for Westport real estate?
“While our economy is fragile, we still believe that real estate is a sound investment and a comfort,” KMS says.
“Purchasing a home fixes a substantial portion of your housing expenses, and takes away the stress of rental increases and frequent moves. Communities with impressive amenities such as ours will continue to be sought-after locales.”
A few real estate statistics, from January 1 through March 31:
- Single family home sales: 43
- Average single family home sale: $2,697,624
- Condo/townhouse sales: 15
- Average condo/townhouse sale: $1,422,200.
(“06880” covers real estate news — along with everything else going on in town. If you enjoy this, or any other stories on your hyper-local blog, please click here to support our work. Thank you!)
Time to sell if you can find a buyer in this chaotic economy. Trump will dump the economy with his moronic tariffs & tax cuts, the stock market is already starting to tank, the housing market will follow. My father used to always brag about buying our house for 48K in 1952 and its huge value by his death in 2002. My constant reply: “Who cares what it is worth, Dad, you do not want to sell. All it means is higher taxes to you.” Bada boom.
http://www.carladdisonswanson.com
I don’t think most people realize how perilous this Trump economy is. The tariffs imposed are unprecedented in over 100 years. The falling Trump stock market ranks among the deepest in history. I wonder what the affects will be on families and our housing market. The maga maniacs will get an eye opener starting tomorrow as the tariff trump tax increases will be felt in stores and services.
We have seen this before. The McKinley Tariff of 1890 raised tariffs nearly 50% across the board with dismal results but for the “robber barons” getting richer. But Trump is not only laying off thousands of federal employees (6% of the budget) as well as deport thousands of “aliens” of whom we need due to labor shortage. All in an effort to justify his forthcoming tax cuts for the rich. As a result, the deficit will sky rocket while the economy plops into high inflation. Fasten your seat belts, it is gonna get bumpy. It will make 2008 look like a cake walk.
Tariffs. Housing. Hosing Americans. According to Gemini Google Artificial Intelligence Trump MAGA hats were/ or are still made in where ?? USA. ? no! China. Trump MAGA hate have been produced in Where ? China. ! Trump as a very Christian man hawked God Bless America Bibles. Ac cording to Gemini Google AI where were the Bible’s manufactured? USA 🇺🇸! no. Where ? China. The Trump tax tariff will cost building materials to be more expensive. If you need a new deck or new kitchen what can we expect to pay now for that repair ?? Will a new house cost more now ? or less money? The outcome remains to be determined. JP Morgan raised the chances of recession to 60 per cent. I don’t think JPMorgan is a left wing only company. Wake up.
Huh? You are talking in circles.
your right. At times I am not careful enough using my phone. My point was Trump merchandise is manufactured in China. He is so determined to bring supply chains into the USA and manufacturing into the USA but makes his merchandise in China. Thanks for letting me know
Take a few days off Rich, for all of us.
Or better ye5, rather than ranting on a blog 20X a day, tell us what you’re doing to try and facilitate political change.
Sunday Dow Futures down 1500. If millions of Americans protest Trump tariff policy that is the best way to facilitate change. On a historical basis no other president that inherited a bull market has had a drop of 15 percent in the S and P. in the first 2 months of office. Tonight’s futures are looking very bad. How will people be able to afford homes ?
I’ll ask again. What Richard, besides another blog rant, what are YOU doing about it? Inspire me with an answer and I may join you.
Real action Richard
Mr. Fogel was spot on. I saw the Asian open with the DOW down 1,600 at one point! This is a horrible meltdown! All of the world markets are tanking.
Trump says he’ll bring back hundreds of factories, and they’ll be back and functional in 19 months. However, in Maryland, a male has been wrongly arrested and transferred to the prison in El Salvador! So the President who can bring back hundreds of factories and billions of dollars, but he can’t bring back this one person, who he admits, was sent by mistake! Hey, Donny.. pick up the phone and call the President of El Salvador. If you don’t get him back, his wife’s attorney will get a 50 million dollar settlement! Today, Trump lost his appeal so he has one day to prove himself! If he can’t bring back ONE person , can he bring back 500 factories.
An interesting local real estate story hijacked by a few TDSers. But it happens to almost every blog these days.
How is it hijacked Tom? The housing market is directly related to the economy which has now become big politics.
The country is 33 Trillion in debt and is continuing to run an annual deficit of 1 Trillion. This has been occurring almost unabated since Clinton was “hard” (at work) developing alternate uses for cigars.
Get a grip people (on something other than the other guy’s throat).
That’s why I support TERM LIMITS FOR CONGRESS
Trump might not initiate new Tariffs on April 9 and put a 90 day delay to stop the market’s slide. Of course that would show weakness and he’d be doing it to let the markets recover ( a dead cat bounce)
Get serious Jo Ann…you can connect anything to the economy. Nice try. TDS drives the comments.
Tom, Look what I wrote. If Trump can’t bring back ONE PERSON from El Salvador, how can he bring in 5 or 50 or 500 factories in 19 months? And that one person he admitted was a mistake. Can you answer that question for me?
I read what you wrote. Fine. But your conclusion is absurd. It’s driven by TDS. There is zero correlation. 🙏
The tariffs are moronic and bad for the economy. It isn’t TDS to point that out. It’s like TDS is your only stupid response to everything.
Throwing a thought terminating cliche out every time someone confronts you with something to think seriously about is either pretty good evidence that thinking is hard for you or that you’ve been brainwashed into no longer being able to think.
The one thing I never see in the various “Westport Homes Sold” (Near You!) agent flyers and discussions is the actual acreage of those properties. Are all the <$2M homes on 1/2acre or less lots which limits their appeal as teardowns without the space to build a $5M mansion?
Imagine a town filled with people who can only afford $2M starter homes.
Our founding “father,” First Selectman Herb Baldwin who DID NOT want Westport to be only for the rich to live (but realized ‘light commercial businesses were needed to keep taxes down) is turning in his grave. We have become exactly what he did not want to happen.
Billionaire Bill Ackman, a Trump supporter, just announced that Trump is losing the confidence of business leaders and said “We didn’t vote for this.” This is one of Trump’s staunchest supporters speaking out publicly! Jamie Diamond said this needs to stop!
On the specific issue of the article – not the political backdrop to anything…
Maybe I’m projecting here, but it seems to me that people who live in the relatively lower value houses are staying put because they can’t really afford to move somewhere else comparable, because of cost or, if their house isn’t too big for empty-nesters, it remains an appreciating asset.
If you can afford a McMansion, the cost of making a move probably isn’t outweighed by the hassle.
(NOW, to get off-topic, I have always thought it fascinatingly weird that the economy is very dependent on housing starts. 16% of our GDP is tied to housing. 4% is specifically to the building of new housing. That is a lot of the GDP tied to something that is the very definition of a long term asset. People staying in houses for a long time – the average is about eleven years – is bad for the economy, even though a house is a thirty-year asset.)