Fairfield Property Values Up Nearly 20 Percent In Some Areas

FAIRFIELD, CT — In the last five years, some Fairfield neighborhoods saw property values go up by nearly 20 percent, while in other parts of town, values dropped almost as much.

Fairfield’s Board of Selectmen discussed the changes in value and how they will impact taxpayers at a meeting earlier this month, where they heard a presentation on the town’s recent revaluation, a process the state requires towns to conduct every five years to assure the equalization of property valuations.

“I know that people are on edge about this,” First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick said. “It’s going to be difficult for our residents who are going up.”

Property owners in neighborhoods where value increased by more than 7 percent should expect a tax increase, according to Michael Fazio of Municipal Valuation Services LLC. Among the 23 neighborhoods included in the town's assessment, eight grew in value by over 7 percent.

Those neighborhoods are: South Pine Creek (up 8 percent), east of North Benson Road (up 9.5 percent), Pine Creek (up 9.7 percent), Sherman (up 10.3 percent), Kings Highway (up 11.3 percent), Tunxis Hill (up 12.3 percent), Reef Road (up 16.2 percent) and Fairfield Beach (up 19.6 percent).

Beach area properties are the most sought after in town, according to Fazio, who said Tunxis Hill and Kings Highway are also “really hot at this time.”

“The market under $600,000 is a very vibrant, strong market,” he said.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Sasco Hill, Hoydens Hill, Low Greenfield and Greenfield Hill neighborhoods all dropped in value by more than 10 percent, with Sasco Hill declining the most, at 17.4 percent.

Sasco Hill has historically been overpriced, according to Fazio, who said values in Greenfield Hill “really got decimated” after 2015 but have begun to recover in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Property sales have significantly increased in town year-over-year, with more than twice the number of sales in August, September and October of 2020 compared to each of the same months in 2019, according to a revaluation summary presented to selectmen. During August of 2020, the town had over 150 sales.

Recent average sale prices in Fairfield neighborhoods range from nearly $3 million in Sasco Hill to less than $500,000 in Kings Highway and Tunxis Hill. Between Oct. 1, 2019 and Oct. 1, 2020, there were 978 property sales in town and 847 were residential.

The real estate section of Fairfield’s grand list is up 7.5 percent, according to Assessor Ross Murray, who said the town’s portion of real estate taxes from commercial and industrial properties increased about 2 percent year-over-year, and was recently more than 11 percent.

“That’ll help take some of the burden off the residential taxpayers,” Selectman Tom Flynn said at the meeting Dec. 7.

Commercial property values grew 27 percent in Fairfield over the course of the five-year revaluation period, with increases in apartments, car dealers and service centers, and medical buildings, according to the summary.

Homeowners received notices about their new assessed value — 70 percent of market value — in early December. Those interested in appealing their assessments can obtain forms to do so in late January from the assessor’s office.

For more information about the revaluation, visit tinyurl.com/yaqz9laq.