Lower Fairfield County Sees 18 Percent Decline in Home Prices

While half of the cities in the U.S. saw an increase in prices for single-family homes during first quarter, the National Association of Realtors is reporting an 18 percent decline in the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk metropolitan area, according to the Connecticut Post.

Only Ulster County, NY, saw a larger decline at 22 percent. Mobile County, Ala. and Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Ga. followed Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk with 14.7 and 12 percent, respectively. The Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla. region saw the largest increase in single-family home prices at 28 percent.

Martin Nirschel, a broker with Weichert Realtors in Stamford, told the Post that the decline in the area might be due to a softening in the high-end market, which may be "the new reality."

William Raveis, founder, chairman, and CEO of , that tax rates in Fairfield County are acting as “ankle weights” on prospective buyers.

“Taxes are killing everybody,” he said. “It’s almost too expensive to live here.”

Other agents in the region, however, said that they were seeing some promising signs due to the early start of spring.

“I think it’s really moving now…it feels like we’re here, we made it,” Carolyn Anderson, managing broker at Greenwich-based Anderson Associates, said. “We’re feeling very optimistic and excited about the wave of the market.”