Engel Team Market Report for Fairfield County Through August 31, 2018
By Inn8ly Developers
Friends!
Find out the state of Connecticut real estate by clicking on the links to the right. Of note:
* New Canaan July closings rebounded 7%
August closings from 18 to 26, a 44% gain.
* New Canaan annual $ volume was down 16%, now down 9.2%. Inventory up to 313.
* Rowayton closings down 55% Median price down 32% this year from $1.31mm to $885k
* Rowayton condo median down 77% to 316k
* Greenwich closings up 39% in July, up 7% in August, up 3% for the year. Median up 3%
* Greenwich condo sales down 11% for the year, condo average down 3% to $893,527
* Stamford up in July, down 27% in August, flat for the year. Average and median $ level.
* Norwalk steady for July, August and 8 mos.
* Norwalk condo inventory fell way off, 25.2%
* Only Greenwich and Norwalk saw both median price & number of closings increase.
* New Canaan, Rowayton, Weston and Westport declined in closings and median $.
* The most expensive towns (median $):
Greenwich $1,850,000, up from $1,797,500
Darien $1,440,000, up from $1,400,000 (3%)
New Canaan $1,380,000 down from $1.445
Westport $1,247,500 down from $1,340,500
Mortgage Rates Fall for Second Straight Week
30-year mortgage rates averaged 4.53% for the week ending August 16th, down from 4.59% the prior week.
Rates have remained within a narrow range over the past few months, despite rising inflation data.
One year ago rates were averaging 3.89%
What Will Happen In the Next Year?
If interest rates rise by .85 percentage points in the next year (using the average forecasts of Freddie, Fannie and the Mortgage Bankers Association) and housing prices rise only 2.6% then a typical mortgage payment will rise 13.3% from $804 to $910.
What Would Be the Effect on Real Estate Sales?
According to a recent survey by Redfin, 21% of respondents said rates passing 5% would increase the urgency to buy a home, 27% would slow their search to see if rates come back down, and 6% said they would cancel their search altogether because of rising rates. 38% of respondents cited high taxes as their greatest concern. 77% expect home prices in their area to rise in the coming year.
However, according to Sam Khater, deputy chief economist at CoreLogic, “If you look at the relationship between [mortgage] rates and [home] sales and home prices , the relationship is almost zero. That’s shocking to most people. Even real estate people and finance people, they don’t understand that.”
