Just released! Our latest Market Watch report for the third quarter of 2016 is now out, and ready to explore. After detailing results for Fairfield and Litchfield Counties, as well as the Shoreline in Connecticut, the Berkshires in Massachusetts, and Westchester County, New York, the report found that compared to the first three quarters of 2015, unit sales and dollar volume have begun to level off in many of our markets. Although the third quarter tended to see lower volume and unit sales versus the same period last year, declines were balanced with significant gains achieved during the first six months of the year, leaving us equal to or a little ahead of 2015.
Westchester County experienced an overall increase in dollar volume of 6% year over year, and a 10% increase in unit sales, with more pronounced growth occurring in the northern county. In this region, sales volume is 11% higher year over year and units 15% higher, compared to dollar volume standing 4% and units 8% higher in the lower county. As a whole, Fairfield County is down 5% in dollar volume with unit sales up 3% year over year, yet sales varied greatly by region. Findings indicated that with the exception of Greenwich, more softness occurred in the higher end communities of the lower county including New Canaan, Darien and Westport. In the northern end of the county, however, the market is up 18.4% in volume and 20.8% in units compared to this time last year. Volume and unit sales increased by 3% and 10%, respectively, in the Shoreline of Connecticut, and in Southern Berkshire County, year-to-date volume is 11% higher and units 5% higher than 2015. An uptick additionally took place in Litchfield County, with the area’s volume growing by 8% and units by 10% compared to this period last year. Property sales for over $1 million are also experiencing immense growth at this time.
The Market Watch concluded that in most communities, entry level price points drive the market, with reductions sometimes spurring sales at the higher end. These high end properties have a smaller pool of potential buyers with longer days on market, and are competing for attention against a surplus of luxury residences. On the other hand, certain higher price categories in both Litchfield County and Northern Fairfield County are performing extremely well, and there are visible improvements in the Northern Westchester County region as well.
“After a very robust first six months, with unit sales and dollar volume higher in the majority of the markets we serve, the third quarter saw our markets realigning more closely with how they performed last year,” said our President and CEO Paul Breunich. “While we may experience fluctuations in the market, there are plenty of healthy economic indicators from high consumer confidence to ongoing low mortgage rates, suggesting that the market should remain an active place for some time to come.”
Want to learn more? The 2016 Third Quarter Market Watch is available for download on our website here.
