Real Estate Report: Classic Supply & Demand

The old mantra about real estate — “location, location, location” — is true.

And when that location is Westport, this is also true: All real estate news is hyper-local.

Whatever else goes on in the rest of the country matters less — real estate-wise — than what happens in our 20 square miles.

Which is why — despite rising gas prices, increasing inflation and an uncertain economy — Westport’s real estate market is great.

If you’re selling.

Demand is sky-high. Supply is super-low. The result is exactly what you’d expect: The few homes that are for sale go very quickly.

And over the asking price.

This historic 7-bedroom home on Greens Farms Road is under contract for $3.75 million.

Karen Scott — a partner with KMS Team at Compass — puts it this way: “No inventory. Pent-up demand. Crazy prices.”

The reasons stretch as far back as COVID — when many New Yorkers and others “discovered” Westport, and commuting patterns changed.

And they’re as recent as this past long winter, which kept residents indoors and away from selling mode.

Continued limited inventory means that a new cohort has joined those who looked for homes last year, could not find them, but continue to search. That larger group is “competing ferociously,” Scott says. Often, it means homes sell for more than the asking price.

As of early April, there were just 48 homes for sale. Asking prices range from $1.035 million to $22.825 million.

The median sales price of single-family homes for the year so far is $2.345 million.

That’s up astronomically from the 12 months ending March 31, 2021 — $1.399,500 — which included the initial COVID frenzy.

There have been 59 sales, up 31% from last year. But new listings are still well below the previous year. The 102 homes that have hit the market in 2026 are 20 fewer than the same time in ’25.

Median days on market — 26 for this year — is not a true indicator of supply-and-demand, Scott notes. Many of those homes are new construction, and are not yet completed.

New construction — like this home at 16 Westport Avenue, a few steps from Compo Beach — is not yet finished. But realtors are ready to market it. 

A more indicative statistic, she says, is how quickly homes go under contract. When buyers are ready (with financing in place), and eager (waiving inspections, or having them for informational purposes only), a contract can be signed within days.

What drives all this?

“Westport has always been in demand, for all the amenities and features — the schools, beaches, arts, recreation, culture,” Scott says.

“And the town is run very efficiently. Taxes are not astronomical.”

However, she says, “people are now putting higher values” on those factors. And the word is getting out.

Those who have moved here in the last few years are telling their friends — and inviting them to see for themselves.

As prospective buyers drive and walk around town, and sit at restaurants, they strike up conversations with residents. They get a very positive, community-minded vibe.

“People who are already here are the best marketers” for Westport, Scott says. “It’s organic. It’s no one thing. It’s just a vibe that people feel when they visit. They hear that people love living here. And they enjoy sharing what they love about it.”

Casual conversations at the Black Duck (above), Nômade, Dandelion, Spotted Horse — and many other restaurants in town — help sell Westport to potential homebuyers. 

Meanwhile, some traditional sellers — empty nesters looking to downsize or “right size” — are not leaving. They may spend time in second homes, but they’re keeping this one, to enjoy their friends, the Library and many other activities.

Some invite their adult children — who are having a tough time entering the market — in.

And others who do list their houses are seeking even larger ones elsewhere in Westport, for multi-generational living with their children and grandchildren.

Adding to the tight supply: They don’t sell until they know where they’re going.

Before the pandemic, Scott says, sellers who were moving elsewhere in town listed their home. They waited months for a contract, and had “several hundred” properties on the market to choose from.

Now, it’s “buy first, then sell.”

So, in addition to “location, location, location,” add this to the current Westport housing mantra: supply and demand.

“It’s Economics 101,” Scott says. “It doesn’t get much simpler than that.”

(“06880” regularly covers real estate — and every other aspect of Westport life. If you enjoy stories like this, please click here to support our work. Thank you!)