Three Litchfield County communities – Colebrook, Barkhamsted and Canaan – placed among the top 10 median sales price increases in Connecticut between 2002 and 2003.
An influx of wealthy commuters and the possible construction of a swanky new golf course have done more than increase the prestige of northern Litchfield County.
The new additions also have pushed three of the county’s small communities into the top 10 Connecticut towns whose median home prices increased the most in 2003.
Colebrook, Barkhamsted and Canaan landed on the list with increases of 85 percent, 36 percent and 35 percent, respectively, compared to their 2002 medians, according to statistics compiled by The Warren Group, parent company of The Commercial Record.
The 2003 median price for Colebrook was $305,000. Barkhamsted’s median price was $216,000 and Canaan’s was $225,000.
The other seven towns on the list are spread out over eastern Connecticut.
The figures are based on relatively few sales in the small towns, but the finding is not necessarily a fluke, said Tom McGowen, an agent at the Norfolk office of Elyse Harney Real Estate.
“There’s a real push coming up from southern Connecticut and Manhattan,” he said.
Though prices in Litchfield County are increasing, they are still far behind prices in Fairfield County, McGowen said. The lower prices in Litchfield County have attracted people who can’t afford to live in Fairfield County and are looking farther afield for an affordable home.
“Because prices are so high and people are willing to come farther … it opens a terrific opportunity for them,” he said.
The three Litchfield County towns are between a half-hour and an hour’s drive from Hartford.
One of people’s biggest attractions to the area is that much of the land is undevelopable, McGowen said. The land is hilly and there are many lakes, and conservation measures ensure that people buying homes amid the beautiful scenery won’t see trees cut down or hills leveled to make way for new development.
“People have very carefully put in lots of conservation measures and state parks,” McGowen said.
A new golf course, Yale Farm, is slated for construction in a couple of years in Norfolk and will likely push up prices even higher, he said. The course will be have an entrance in Canaan and is near both Colebrook and Barkhamsted.
“That is such a plush situation there, it will filter down,” McGowen said. “I feel [prices are] going to go up substantially.”
Though the area is increasing in popularity, there are still good deals available, McGowen said, noting that buyers can still find well-priced houses in Colebrook.
The tiny town, which the U.S. Census indicates had a population of 1,081 in 2000, had the highest median increase in the state between 2002 and 2003. Colebrook’s median home price increased from $165,000 in 2002, when there were 27 home sales, to $305,500 in 2003, when there were 14 home sales. That is an 85 percent jump.
Barkhamsted placed third on the list. The town’s median home price was $158,900 in 2002, when there were 48 home sales; the median increased to $216,000 in 2003, when 50 homes changed hands. That amounted to a 36 percent increase.
Canaan was fourth on the list with a 35 percent increase. The median price there in 2002 was $167,500, based on 25 sales. That price went up to $225,000 in 2003, when there were 20 sales.
Southeastern Connecticut towns North Stonington, with a median home price of $251,000, and Stonington, with a median home price of $250,000, also placed in the top 10.
Coastal towns like New London County’s Stonington and North Stonington always have been popular as vacation spots and many people own second homes there, said Judi Caracausa, broker-owner of Mystic-based Market Realty.
Though median prices in North Stonington rose 29 percent, based on 77 home sales, and prices in Stonington rose 25 percent, based on 283 home sales, there are still good values in the area, Caracausa said.
“When you look at the rest of the state, there’s a good value there,” she said.
But the towns’ lack of available land is pushing up prices.
“It’s scarcity of land,” Caracausa said. “It’s really supply and demand. Everyone’s looking for that magic piece of land that doesn’t exist.”
Though Litchfield County cities and towns might seem like bargains next to those in Fairfield County, home prices in most of the state are lower than those in Litchfield. The median home price in Connecticut in 2003 was $210,000, and that increased 14 percent from 2002.
Other towns that made the list were Union, Killingly, Colchester, Franklin and Westbrook.
‘Pent-Up Demand’
But although those are the 10 towns that had the highest increases in median home prices, they don’t have the highest prices in the state.
The top 10 cities and towns with the state’s most expensive real estate are all located in Fairfield County, a trend that hasn’t changed in years.
New Canaan took the top spot in the state, with a 2003 median price of $1.11 million. There were 228 home sales in New Canaan last year.
Greenwich and Darien followed close behind, with median home prices of $965,000 and $875,500, respectively. Westport, Weston, Wilton, Easton, Ridgefield, Redding and Stamford rounded out the top 10.
Fairfield County cities and towns historically have been among the most expensive in Connecticut because of the county’s proximity to New York City.
Prices there have been steadily increasing over the past few years, and real estate agents don’t expect that to stop.
“We’re looking for 2004 to be every bit as strong [as the last couple of years],” said Carl Tooker, manager at William Pitt Real Estate in Stamford. “There is a pent-up demand. It’s a seller’s market.”
If interest rates stay low, prices will increase even more, Tooker added.
Gerry Harrington, a broker at Country Living Assoc., which is based in Norwalk, agreed. The high prices will continue as long as interest rates are low, she said, but Fairfield County will probably always be expensive.
“Fairfield County hasn’t changed in 25 years,” Harrington said.
2004 already has been profitable for William Pitt, Tooker said.
“So far, in the first quarter [of 2004], we’ve seen a lot of activity,” he said, noting that houses priced right don’t last on the market for more than a week.
There is also a lot of new construction in the area, according to Harrington.
“[New homes are] going as fast as they’re going up,” she said.
Tooker said Fairfield County’s cities and towns have something to offer everyone – or at least, something to offer those who can afford them.
New Canaan, which has a population of about 19,000, is in a more rural part of Fairfield County, Tooker said.
Many residents there live on two-, three- or four-acre properties and there is no heavy commercial concentration in the town.
Darien also has a population of about 19,000, abuts New Canaan, and is similar in other ways to its slightly more expensive neighbor, Tooker said.
Greenwich, however, appeals to people who want to be closer to New York City and has good shopping.
“It’s a little more cosmopolitan,” Tooker said.
But enjoying the variety Fairfield County has to offer can be difficult for those who can’t afford the high prices, which is part of the reason Litchfield County’s real estate market is booming.
“You’re seeing a difficult time for the first-home buyers [in Fairfield County],” Tooker said.
More people are buying condominiums as their first homes, he added.
