Market Continues to Improve; 50 Open Houses in Greenwich

We have 50 open houses this week in Greenwich with an almost even price distribution; 13 open houses under $1 million, 16 between $1 and 2 million and 16 over $2 million. You can find the  list of Greenwich open houses below,  see this week’s interactive map here and find detailed instructions for its use here. 

JUNE MARKET REPORT

YTD

Calc

June Statistics

Inventory

Contracts

Solds

Total

Solds

Solds+Cur.Ks

Mo. Supply

< $600K

25

7

7

14

27

34

4.6

$600-$800K

34

18

11

29

31

49

5.5

$800K-$1M

24

9

8

17

23

32

5.2

$1-$1.5M

57

20

11

31

34

54

8.4

$1.5-$2M

68

24

9

33

39

63

8.7

$2-$3M

102

23

10

33

38

61

13.4

$3-$4M

77

10

7

17

20

30

19.3

$4-$5M

52

6

4

10

9

15

28.9

$5-$10M

99

7

3

10

15

22

33.0

> $10M

47

3

2

5

6

9

39.2

TOTAL

585

127

72

199

242

369

12.1

Change Mo/Mo

-5.8%

-17.0%

50.0%

-1.0%

June is the month with the most sales and it looks like June 2012 will follow that tradition. Last month we had 72 sales reported in town by the Greenwich MLS. We will pick up a few more that sold outside of the MLS and will be at about the average for the 2006 – 2011 period. We are way down from June 2011’s 114 house sales. Last June was so high because of the 0.25% increase in the Connecticut conveyance tax that kicked in on July 1, 2011. As a result many July 2011 sales were moved to June 2011. June’s sales were up 50% over the 48 sales recorded in May 2012.

As you can see from the graph every price category had a shrinkage in the their months of supply in June (blue bars) over May 2012 (white bars). The over $4 million market continues slow with over two years of supply, but this segment is getting better fast. For example, the $4 - 5 million price range dropped from 49 months of supply in May to 28.9 months of supply as of the end of June. This category also is likely to do better in July as the red bar shows. These red bars show months of supply when you add in pending contracts to actual solds. When you add the pending contracts months of supply for the $4 - 5 million price range drops another half year to only 22.5 months of supply.

This drop in supply when including pending contracts and offers is also true in every price category. The one exception is the less than $600K market where we are already looking only at only 4.6 months of supply based on sales to date. If the June sales of 7 units were to happen every month in this price range we would have only a 3.6 months of supply.

CAVEAT: The New Medicare Investment Tax and Capital Gains Tax Increase

Starting next year many homeowners in Greenwich will be subject to a 3.8% “investment” tax if they sell their home. This new tax was created to finance President Obama’s Affordable Health Care Act and applies to couples with more than $500,000 of gain in their property. A single person only needs $250,000 of gain and any gain from the sale of vacation homes or investment property will be subject to this new investment tax. This tax will apply to couples with an AGI of more than $250,000 and the gain on the sale of the house above $500,000 is included in the couples AGI.

An even bigger tax increase also is scheduled for the beginning of next year. The Bush tax cuts are scheduled to expire at the end of this year, so unless Congress acts, the capital gains tax rate will increase from 15% to 20% on the sale of your home. Together these two taxes are an additional 8.8% or a 58.6% increase in the capital gains tax for Greenwich homeowners with significant equity in their home.

If people sell their house this year they will not be subject to the new investment tax nor the increase in the capital gains tax. As a result we may see an increase in inventory and hence months of supply as people with large unrecognized gain put their houses on the market this year rather than wait till next year. Anyone pursuing that strategy would need to put their house on soon to close before the end of the year. (The NAR has a good brochure on this complicated new tax. I’d be glad to forward this to anyone concerned about this. Just email me or Rob Pulitano.)

(Thanks again to Rob Pulitano for preparing the open house list and interactive map each week and for his help with research on the new Medicare investment tax.)

GREENWICH, CT OPEN HOUSE LIST FOR JUNE 15, 2012 AND interactive map

Address

Town

List Price

Open House Time

Broker

50 Indian Field Rd.

Greenwich

$4,200

1-3 PM

Heddings Prop Grp

51 Forest Ave. #36

Old Greenwich

$4,950

2-4 PM

Raveis

9 S. End Ct.

Old Greenwich

$9,000

2-5 PM

Raveis

45 Close Rd.

Greenwich

$16,000

2-4 PM

Prudential

25 West Way

Old Greenwich

$19,000

2-5 PM

Raveis

87 Putnam Park  #87

Greenwich

$397,000

2-4 PM

Raveis

24 Wessels Pl.

Greenwich

$541,000

1-4 PM

Raveis

358 Long Ridge Rd

Stamford

$625,000

1-4 PM

Prudential

60 Valley Rd.  #A

Cos Cob

$645,000

2-4 PM

Raveis

47 Lafayette Place  #41

Greenwich

$675,000

1-4 PM

Prudential

66 Richland Rd.  #B

Greenwich

$697,000

12-2 PM

Coldwell Bnkr

197 Sheephill Rd.  #C

Riverside

$699,000

2-4 PM

Coldwell Bnkr

51 Forest Ave.  #109

Old Greenwich

$725,000

1-4 PM

Coldwell Bnkr

19 Wescott St.

Greenwich

$729,000

2-4 PM

Coldwell Bnkr

7 Mary Ln.

Riverside

$750,000

2-4 PM

Raveis

123 Harbor Dr  #203

Stamford

$795,000

1-4 PM

Coldwell Bnkr

9 Sinawoy Rd.

Cos Cob

$950,000

1-4 PM

Prudential

51 Forest Ave.  #36

Old Greenwich

$999,500

2-4 PM

Raveis

11 Bayside Terr.

Riverside

$1,065,000

1-3 PM

Shore & Cntry

23 Mianus View

Cos Cob

$1,095,000

1-4 PM

Weichert

73 Weaver St . #16

Greenwich

$1,095,000

2-4 PM

Halstead Prop

71 Orchard Pl. #B

Greenwich

$1,165,000

2-4 PM

Coldwell Bnkr

73 Weaver St. #18

Greenwich

$1,195,000

2-4 PM

Raveis

39 Cross Ln.

Cos Cob

$1,199,000

12-3 PM

Weichert

35 Midbrook Rd.

Old Greenwich

$1,475,000

1-4 PM

Prudential

130 Woodside Dr.

Greenwich

$1,499,000

2-4 PM

Sotheby's

21 Cat Rock Rd.

Cos Cob

$1,649,000

2-4 PM

Coldwell Bnkr

18 Spring St.

Riverside

$1,695,000

1-4 PM

Prudential

70 Bedford Rd.

Greenwich

$1,700,000

1-3 PM

Coldwell Bnkr

65 Lockwood Ln.

Riverside

$1,769,000

1-4 PM

Prudential

11 Londonderry Dr.

Greenwich

$1,795,000

2-4 PM

Raveis

16 Manor Rd.

Greenwich

$1,795,000

1-4 PM

Prudential

79 William St.

Greenwich

$1,975,000

2-4 PM

Coldwell Bnkr

9 S End Ct.

Old Greenwich

$1,999,000

2-5 PM

Raveis

284 Riversville Rd.

Greenwich

$2,395,000

1-3 PM

Raveis

42 Will Merry Ln.

Greenwich

$2,490,000

1-3 PM

Round Hill Prtnr

182 Dolphin Cove Quay

Stamford

$2,595,000

1-4 PM

Prudential

243 Dolphin Cove Quay

Stamford

$2,800,000

1-4 PM

Prudential

196 Dolphin Cove Quay

Stamford

$2,995,000

1-4 PM

Prudential

1 Tyler Ln.

Riverside

$3,275,000

1-4 PM

Weichert

25 Windabout Dr.

Greenwich

$3,295,000

2-4 PM

Coldwell Bnkr

8 Indian Point Ln.

Riverside

$3,450,000

1-4 PM

Prudential

242 Dolphin Cove Quay

Stamford

$3,460,000

1-4 PM

Prudential

2 Parsonage Rd.

Greenwich

$4,295,000

1-3 PM

Round Hill Prtnr

585 Round Hill Rd

Greenwich

$4,495,000

1-4 PM

Coldwell Bnk

45 Close Rd

Greenwich

$5,295,000

2-4 PM

Prudential

45 Close Rd

Greenwich

$5,295,000

2-4 PM

Prudential

2 Conyers Farm Dr.

Greenwich

$6,495,000

12-3:30 PM

Sotheby's

25 West Way

Old Greenwich

$7,695,000

2-5 PM

Raveis

56 Clapboard Ridge

Greenwich

$9,950,000

2-4 PM

Ogilvy