via CT POST

By Alexander Soule | Published on December 4, 2020

The Greenwich-Bridgeport corridor will see one of the half-dozen biggest increases in home prices in the nation next year, according to a Realtor.com study of the 100 largest metropolitan regions.

On the heels of a huge real estate market driven by an escape from cities during the COVID-19 pandemic, Realtor.com is projecting a 7.8 percent increase in prices next year for the coastal Fairfield County region. Silicon Valley was tops with a forecast 10.8 percent gain, followed by regions centered by Seattle, Boise, Idaho; Fresno, Calif.; and San Francisco.

Connecticut real estate contracts and closings remained at record levels in November compared to prior years, according to a Thursday report by William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty based in Stamford. At $554,000, the price of the median home sold in Fairfield County was up 24 percent from the equivalent home sold in November 2019, William Pitt Sotheby’s determined.

Sales of single-family homes were up by nearly two-thirds from a year ago, with houses under contract up 28 percent from November 2019.

Heading further east along Connecticut’s shoreline as far as Stonington, November sales volume was up 36 percent but pending sales were flat, though the houses being sold were at far higher price points than a year ago.

That was the case throughout Connecticut, with dollar volume more than double in Fairfield County for closed sales in November, and the value of pending contracts up 78 percent. After listing his Round Hill mansion in Greenwich for $47.5 million, fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger found a buyer in mid-November.

Houses continued to come onto the market entering December, off a big November for new listings up 30 percent from a year ago.

“More upper-end homes are coming on the market,” said William Pitt Sotheby’s CEO Paul Breunich on Thursday. “People are realizing ... we are in an unprecedented demand cycle.”

If the holidays will tap the brakes on home sales, Breunich expects the market to pick up in January where it left off, irregardless of any cold snaps or heavy snowfall which ordinarily can push back new listings.

Breunich confirmed that many sellers are listing at aggressively high prices, at the outset after agents fielded multiple concurrent bids on many properties last year.

If pushing the cost of purchasing a home up for buyers with limited resources, on the plus side the Federal Reserve is expected to keep interest rates flat to boost the recovery from the pandemic, making mortgages more affordable over the duration of their terms. On Thursday, Freddie Mac reported a record low of 2.71 percent on average for a 30-year, fixed rate mortgage.

“That’s what’s beautiful about capitalism — the market doesn’t lie,” Breunich said. “Demand is exceeding supply — but you can see more supply coming on.”