Greenwich Home Sales Start To Perk Up

GREENWICH, Conn. – Overall prices went up but single-family residential home closings decreased in Greenwich during April, the Greenwich Association of Realtors reported. However, the increasing sales of high priced homes during May, could up the ante in the market, according to one Greenwich Realtor.

A total of 37 single-family residential closings were reported in April, according to figures provided by the Greenwich Multiple Listing Service Inc. This number is a 26 percent decrease compared with March 2011.

“In April the lowering of the market continued, but homes in the $2 million to $3 million range recovered with 11 sales,” said Mark Pruner, a sales executive with Prudential Connecticut Realty in Greenwich. No other price division had more than six sales in April, he said.

In addition, the median sale price for a single-family home increased to $1.875 million from the March 2011 median sale price of $1,792,500. Overall prices are up about 3 percent, but Pruner says those numbers can be tricky. “The median price has shifted … the bigger homes are being sold at a higher rate than the smaller homes,” he said.

In the past month, homes costing more than $10 million are faring better than lower priced homes, says Pruner. Recently, a 17-acre estate on Upper Cross Road in Greenwich sold for $13.5 million. “The big concern is that $4 [million] to $10 million range, which continues to be slow,” he added.

Springtime means a large inventory of homes. During the first weekend in May, 60 open houses were held in Greenwich, ranging in price from $319,000 to $5.5 million, according to Greenwich Streets, a Real Estate blog run by Pruner. On Sunday, May 20, that number rose to a whopping 93 open houses in Greenwich.

Currently, 634 houses are on the market, while 181 properties have already sold, have an accepted offer or are under contract, according to Pruner. A majority of the home sales in May have been priced at less than $3 million. Also, about half the inventory is homes priced at less than $3 million.

“[The market is] recovering from the bottom up. People who are getting bonuses are staring to buy now, but they’re still being conservative,” said Pruner, adding that homes in the $2 million range are selling better than last year. 

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