A busy holiday season for New Canaan housing market
Town saw double the number of homes sold in December 2020 compared to 2019
NEW CANAAN — Home sales in December 2020 were double that of the same month in 2019, according to Melissa Rwambuya, president of the New Canaan Board of Realtors.
And buyers were paying with cash.
In December, homes sales were up 108 percent, selling 25 homes in comparison to 12 in 2019.
“This was the busiest holiday season I’ve experienced in my 13 years of selling real estate in New Canaan. It was very active,” Rwambuya said.
For the full year 2020 real estate was also more active than the prior year, with 60 percent more homes sold, 363 sales versus 226 in 2019.
“Speaking with our real estate members over the last few weeks, everyone agrees there are a lot of buyers out there. The biggest problem we are facing right now is lack of inventory,” the William Ravis realtor said.
Inventory in New Canaan decreased by 42.7 percent, with 106 units in December of 2020 versus 185 units in December 2019.
“This time of the year is usually slow but, we had multiple bid situations on properties during December of 2020. For those homeowners who were willing to show and willing to sell and allow people in their homes during COVID, transactions occurred,” Rwambuya said.
In December, the number of days a home remained on market decreased by 53.5 percent, to 107 days in 2020 to 230 days the same month in 2019.
“One interesting statistic is that the average sales price over December is basically flat, which tells us buyers are not overpaying, but they are facing a lot of competition which may push up pricing,” Rwambuya explained.
The average list price for the year was up 6.5 percent
to $2,250,951 in 2020 versus $2,113,714 in 2019. The average sales price is up 12.8 percent with $1,691,454 in 2020 versus $1,500,166 in 2019.
The demand is not just for homes less than $2 million.
“There is a huge demand for homes priced at $2 million and under but especially in the last months the upper end of the market is seeing increased demand again for the first time since the last market correction,” Rwambuya said.
The median sales price for last year was up 7.2 percent, $1,439,000 versus $1,342,500 in 2019. The median sales price in December was up 5.8 percent, at $1,586,500 versus $1,500,000 in the last month of 2019.
“There are a lot of cash buyers coming out of the city who are looking for space and serenity,” the president of the realtor board said.
“There are, however, still great opportunities for buyers willing to do work on a house. There are still deals to be had and the interest rate environment could not be better.” Rwambuya said.
The number of days for a home to remain on the market dropped during full year 2020 by 12.3 percent, with 150 days on the market versus 171 days in 2019.