Eyes on Ridgefield Real Estate: Year In Review

Overall, an active year in real estate in our area.   While consumer confidence in the market was sketchy overall, buyers definitely moved ahead cautiously.  Thankfully, we did see a healthy mix of interest and negotiating.  Home sellers are also much more in tune with values and have priced their homes—on average—closer to the selling price.   The summer months saw the most activity but once the hurricane blew into town in late August, kids returned to school (6 days later) and the late October snow storm certainly slowed the selling process in town significantly.

2011 UNITS SOLD Jan Feb March April May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Single Family Homes 13 17 13 15 23 46 31 24 24 6 12 14 Condo Units 2 1 0 1 4 5 5 1 3 3 3 3

 

The differences year-over-year (over the last 4 years) is not as dramatic as the dip from 2007, but the market is certainly leveling off.  It’s the dramatic changes which reduce consumer confidence but in reviewing 2008-2011  (or 4 years) of steady sales, is encouraging.  Throw in historically low interest rates, unemployment is declining and pending homes sales are on the rise (therefore reducing inventory) we are slowly, cautiously, but definitely trending in the right direction.

SOLD UNITS 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Single Family Homes 329 338 240 219 271 239 Condo Units 61 43 50 42 53 32

 

The one interesting trend is that we are selling at approximately 94% of asking price.  In 2009, we dipped down to 92% of asking price.  But in the best of times we were seeing 96%-97% of sale to list price. 

 

Average List versus Sale Price in each year:

YEAR LIST Price SOLD Price 2006 $1,002,741 $967,984 2007 $996,936 $952,496 2008 $912,222 $857,165 2009 $917,814 $758,401 2010 $825,404 $783,209 2011 $813,389 $768,483

 

Open Houses this weekend:

Address Price Date & Time Broker Agent 35 Christopher Rd, Ridgefield $524,900 Sunday, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. Prudential CT Realty Mary-Jo Madden / Sandra Juliano 2 Christopher Rd, Ridgefield $1,099,000 Sunday, 1 p.m. - 3 p.m. Prudential CT Realty Sandra Juliano 1 Kumquat Ln, Ridgefield $264,900 Sunday, 1 p.m. - 3 p.m. Coldwell Banker
Amy Grossfeld / Angela Campbell 14 Hillcrest Court, Ridgefield $795,000 Thursday,  4 p.m. - 6 p.m.
Prudential CT Realty Debbie Chase 6 Outpost Lane, Ridgefield $180,000 Sunday, 1 p.m. - 3 p.m. Prudential CT Realty Sandra Juliano / Alttare Scheer 520 Main Street, Unit 2, Ridgefield $699,000 Sunday, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. Prudential CT Realty Annmarie Del Franco

 

Real Estate in the News:

According to a recent interview with Doug Duncan, Vice President and Chief Economist at Fannie Mae, the housing market is in a holding pattern, said Doug Duncan, in an interview with Inman News at last year's San Francisco Real Estate Connect.

"There's no doubt that mortgage underwriting standards and credit conditions have tightened significantly since the days before the house-price bubble," noted Duncan. Although, he said, tightening has ceased.

The market is holding steady at the moment, but will slowly loosen as housing prices stabilize, noted Duncan, who also predicted that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates, which now sit well below their long-term average, sometime in 2012.  Watch the entire video.

 

Mortgage Corner:

The good news is:  Higher Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage limits for Fairfield County as of January 1^st.

Out of the 3,234 counties in the country only Fairfield County has had the high balance mortgage limit increased under guidelines set by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA) of 2008.  The annual review in October is based on the average selling price and factoring in the HERA requirements.  This left Fairfield County the only one to experience an increase in the mortgage limit after taking the HERA guidelines into account.   The high balance mortgage limit increased from $575,000 to $601,450 effective January 1, 2012 for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgages.  Ultimately what this means to you as the borrower is that the mortgage rate for 30yr Fixed Rate Loan up to this limit should be a minimum of .250% lower than the prevailing Jumbo Fixed Rate for loans above the new limit. The county limit for FHA loans currently remains at $575,000.

A Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year to all our readers!

Call for a free mortgage pre-approval or refinance consultation: 

Al Hoppe 

NMLS #109608                                                                                                                      Connecticut Home Mortgage                                                                                                                (203)829-2742                                                                                                                    ahoppe@cthm.com