Community Corner
Hurricane Sandy Impacts Greenwich House Sales; 29 Open Houses in Greenwich Today
Market momentum slows; Increased federal taxes to impact long-time Greenwich homeowners.
The Greenwich Market Report
In November 2012, 33 homes sold according to the GMLS and we will pick up a few more as non-GMLS sales are reported by searchGreenwich.net. Last year, we only had 29 sales and in November 2010 we had the same 33 sales as this year. So Hurricane Sandy slowed sales as you might expect, but we are still ahead of last year. When you look at the 2012 sales we had a rocky beginning and then things turned around in May, since then we have been above both last year’s sales and the 6 year average, but market momentum has slowed.
Find out what's happening in Greenwichwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
December 2012 Sales Increase Likely for Greenwich
Find out what's happening in Greenwichwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Momentum slowed in November, because Congress continued to create market uncertainty and some people were waiting for the election results. The election results are in and it looks like little has changed. We still have the same people and the same gridlock. We always see a increase in sales in December compared to November and I expect that increase December 2012 will be bigger this year as Hurricane Sandy pushed some sales into December. In addition, yearend selling will be further enhanced as long term homeowners try to avoid the coming jump in capital gains taxes.
Increased Taxes in 2013 Encourage Yearend 2012 Sales
As the law stands now capital gains on house sales will increase from 15% to 20% on Jan. 1, 2013. In addition a new healthcare tax will kick in on the same date. Now the National Association of Realtors in battling scaremongers has said don’t worry the new Obamacare tax will only effect a few homeowners. If you lived in Greenwich for long time you should worry, because the tax is targeted directly at communities like Greenwich.
A New Tax and a Tax Increase on Greenwich Home Sales Starting in 2013
Under the present law you pay 15% tax on the gain over your exclusion. Starting Jan. 1, this will increase 20% as the Bush tax cuts are due to expire. If you are married and sell your house you get a $500,000 capital gains exclusion now and next year. If you have investment property you get no exclusion and if you are single or widowed you only get half that or a $250,000 exclusion. In addition, if you are married and your income is over $250,000 you will also pay the new Obamacare investment tax of 3.8% of the gain. The excess gain will also be included to push up your income.
The group most likely to be impacted by this tax are widows who bought in the 1980s. For those people they almost certainly have enough gain to not only exceed the $250,000 single person gain exclusion, but also enough additional gain to push them over the $200,000 single person threshold for the new healthcare tax. For these people their tax rate will go from 15% to 23.8% or an increase of 59% in taxes they pay. As a result, December should be a good sales month as people try to close this year. December and all of 2013 should also be a good time for tax professionals as they work through the myriad of nuances, loopholes and complications that apply to each family’s situation.
The open house list below is courtesy of Rob Pulitano who has a cool new website at www.greenwichrealestatepro.com. The hot links are courtesy of Jared Randall. Rob also prepared this weeks interactive map of the open houses with pop-up details which is available here.
GREENWICH, CT OPEN HOUSE LIST FOR 12/2/12
Address
Town
$4.195M
1-4 PM
Prudential
Greenwich
$4.495M
1-4 PM
Prudential
Greenwich
$4.999M
1-4 PM
Prudential
Riverside
$6.995M
1-4 PM
Prudential
