The Wilton real estate market appears to be putting winter in the rear view mirror and embracing spring. Closings for May 2015 were higher than 2014 and just about at the 21-year average. At the same time, the median price rose more than $40,000, or 5.8%. The average went up more than $45,000, or approximately 5%. Meanwhile, inventory rose to 195 units with an average list price of $1,216,455. This is the highest inventory level since July 2012 and the average price is lower than last year by more than $170,000.
For the year-to-date, 2015 continues to trail 2014 in sales by just over 9%. The median price is now $69,000 ahead of last year, or more than 9%. The average sale price continues to trail last year by $25,000, or close to 3%. However, total revenue is running more than $7,000,000 (around 11%) below 2014.
In the last couple of weeks we have seen upticks in mortgage rates and it remains to seen if these will stick and move further upwards. While it is encouraging to see the median rise, it is surprising that there continues to be little to no traction from $1,100,000 up. More than half the sales above $900,000 are from $900,000 to $1,100,000 with slightly less scattered in all other price bands. There is some indication that will change slightly in the next six weeks with houses closing in time for the opening of the school year. However, the market continues to be top heavy with 82 of the 195 homes in inventory over $1,100,000 and only 47 sales of single-family homes over the last year in that price range. In the last year there were 176 sales of homes below $1,100,000. This indicates there are very different strategies to take into consideration when trying to sell homes in the different price categories. The absorption rate for homes below $1,100,000 is well under a year while over that price it could take close to two years.