It takes some doing to find good news in the Connecticut real estate market. While the year isn’t over, it looks like the number of sales will end down for the year, though the statewide median sale price will likely be up slightly – and there are reasons to think next year will see continued improvement.

Slow, Steady Success

This year saw modest price appreciation statewide, and Connecticut Mortgage Bankers Association President Kevin Moran expects that trend to continue into 2018.

“We expect things to be on a steady path in 2018, and the CMBA is expecting moderate growth in the overall level of production,” Moran said. “We also expect moderate housing price appreciation, which is what we’ve seen over the last 18 to 24 months, and there is no real reason to expect anything other than a continuation of what we’ve seen.”

Moran cited governmental achievements like passing a budget and putting a plan together to provide relief for residents who own homes with crumbling concrete foundations as some of the more positive things that impacted the market this year.

As of the end of October, the year-to-date the median sales price of a single-family home in Connecticut was $250,000, up $4,000 from the 2016 median price at that time, according to data from The Warren Group, publisher of The Commercial Record.

The real estate crash hit Fairfield County harder than the other counties, and the recovery has been slower there than the rest of the state. This year, the state’s budget battles and the prospect of having the home mortgage interest deduction reduced or eliminated were the big clouds on the horizon. But there are still pockets of good news on the local level, if you know where to look.

Greater Fairfield Continues To Rebound

General Electric dropped a bomb on Fairfield County last year when it announced it was going to uproot its headquarters – and hundreds of employees – taking them from Fairfield to Boston, and giving its campus to Sacred Heart University. But there’s good news coming on that front, according to Mark S. Barnhardt, director of economic development for the town of Fairfield.

Barnhardt said that both Sacred Heart University and Fairfield University – the town’s two largest employers – are reporting increases in enrollment and investment in their campuses.

“Fairfield University just announced plans to construct a new state-of-the-art, $40 million facility to accommodate the Dolan School of Business, which is expected to open in 2019,” Barnhardt wrote in an email.

That kind of investment bodes well for residential real estate, said Stephanie Barnes, an agent with William Raveis and president of the Greater Fairfield Board of Realtors. Employees of the universities will want to live reasonable near to them, and while Fairfield is associated with large mansions, there are plenty of more modest homes available as well.

“Fairfield has lots of rental options and great starter homes,” Barnes said. “People who move to Fairfield tend to stay in Fairfield, so they want to have the flexibility to move up and to move down.”
There’s also new investment in elderly living, so aging parents can stay in the community when they are no longer able to live on their own.

There are three assisted living facilities currently under construction in Fairfield: Benchmark is constructing a $15 million, 88-unit assisted living facility behind the Carolton Chronic & Convalescent Care Facility on Mill Plain Road; in Southport, work has begun on a 98-unit assisted living/memory care facility by Maplewood; and Sunrise Senior Living is constructing a 83-unit assisted living/memory care facility in the Stratfield section of Fairfield.”

“Fairfield is a great place for multigenerational folks,” Barnhardt wrote. “You can be on the beach, in a town near a train and highways, you could be tucked into nature in beautiful Greenfield Hill, where there is seclusion, peace and privacy; and Greenfield Hill is only minutes to whatever you need to get to. For those with a younger family, there are so many options of kids activities from town activities, to sports, to arts – there is something for everyone.”

Barnhardt said investments in mixed-use and transit-oriented development are also expected to draw new people into town.

“There is something for everyone,” Barnes said. “Homes for those who are downsizing, homes for those who are growing and homes for all kinds of lifestyles. With a Fairfield lifestyle you get convenience to Manhattan and Boston, airports, trains and a short drive to the mountains if skiing is your thing.”

Buyers want turnkey properties more than ever these days, but not every seller can or will spruce up their home enough to spark a bidding war. But that can be a good thing, said Carl Lantz, RE/Max agent and president of the Greater Hartford Association of Realtors; it makes it easier to find bargains for his buyers and helps him coach sellers on how to get top dollar for their home.

“The best buys I’ve been seeing are those homes that need a little work,” Lantz said. “You can usually get a great bargain on them and with some renovation, earn some instant sweat equity. On the seller side, those homes that are already updated are a hot commodity and have a lot of interest.”