By now you have probably all seen the Annual Market Watch for 2013, which was released last week, but if you haven’t had the chance here is a brief overview of its content. For those of you that do not know what the Market Watch is, it’s a report detailing annual market results for Fairfield and Litchfield Counties and the Shoreline in Connecticut, the Berkshires in Massachusetts and Westchester County, New York. You can have a look at The Stamford Advocate’s outstanding coverage of the report here: http://bit.ly/1jEnmE5
This year’s report reflects a very positive growth in market sales in this past year, which bodes well for 2014! “We believe that we are in a housing market that is stronger and more sustainable than it has been for five years, and one that will continue to improve in 2014,” Paul Breunich said, President and CEO of William Pitt and Julia B. Fee Sotheby’s International Realty. “This year will be the third of our local housing recovery, and we expect that exceptional home affordability and rising demand will support continued growth in all of our market areas.”
There has been strong activity across multiple market segments including luxury properties, new construction, raw land, condos and co-ops. Every sector of the local housing market experienced unit and dollar volume growth in 2013 compared to 2012, including single family homes, condos, co-ops, residential land and new construction.
According to the report, the combination of an improving economy, increasing consumer confidence, home affordability and pent-up demand contributed to the heightened market activity, with buyers participating across all price categories. Consumer confidence now stands at a five-year high, allowing the market to remain resilient despite potential challenges in late 2013 such as the government shutdown and the fiscal cliff. The report also stated that consumers are tending to purchase those homes that represent value, as indicated by faster sales of properties that are in good condition, have a desirable location and are priced well. Sellers of these types of properties benefitted from multiple bidding wars in 2013.
The 2013 Year-End Market Watch is available for download on the firm’s website here.
