Real Estate Market Stays Busy
By Mark Pruner May was a good month for sales in a pandemic. When all the late reporting sales are in, we will be pretty close to last year with a little over 50 sales compared with 56 sales for May 2019. The good news is that we have exactly the same 108 contracts this year as last year at this time. These contracts show that the $1.5 – 4 million market is doing particularly well. What had been the hot market, and still is when you look at how little inventory we have, is the $1 – 1.5 million market. In that market we only have 57 listings down 17 listing from last year. At the same we have sold or have under contract 59 houses in only 5 months. This equates to 6.3 months of supply from $1 - 1. 5 million. Generally, under 6 months supply is considered a buyer’s market. Also, generally our lowest months of supply are at our lowest price range, but right now our 6.2 months of supply from $1 – 1.5 million is actually is even less than the 6.4 months of supply
that we have from $600,000 - to close from $6.5 to 10 million. $800,000. ( BT W: A not he r i s sue whe n numbers are small is just what May 2020 vs. May 2019 price ranges are picked and the Overall, we have had 186 sales exact beginning and end of the of single family homes this year “month”. I use $6.5 million as a up 21 sales from 2019 when we dividing line, because roughly half had only 165 sales. Our sales are of our listings between $5 and 10 up or about the same as last year million are below $6.5 million (45 all the way up to $6.5 million. As listings) and half are over $6.5 noted above sales from $1 – 1.5 million (48 listings)). million have done particularly So is the high-end weak or well with an increase of 12 sales is it just market segmentation? or a gain of 36% over last year. Unfortunately the market above The other two price ranges that $6.5 million is weak as we only have shown nice gains in sales have 1 sale so far this year above is the $600 – 800K range where $6.5 million. The good news is sales are up 56% from 8 sales that it a $17 million sale. We also to 13 sales and also the $5 – 6.5 have a total of 6 contracts above million price range where sales $6. 5 million while inventory are up 100% from 3 sales YTD in down 10% above $6.5 million, May 2019 to 6 sales this year. Even when you throw in lower Anytime you see a big gain inventor y and add contracts in one particular price range you you are looking at over 8 years should take a look at the price of supply from $6.5 million to ranges just above and just below. $10 million and almost 7 year of If all of them are up, you have a supply over $10 million. My law strong price trend and you can of small number does say that be reasonably sure that you are a couple of sales and additional seeing a real change in the market contracts will mean a drop of year over year. Unfortunately, years in the months of supply, but this is not the case for the $5 – 6.5 we will need more than a handful million price range. Sales from $4 of sales for this market segment – 5 million are down 22% from to start looking healthy. last year from 8 sales to 6 sales. The question is why is the If you then go the other way high-end is looking weak when and go up in price range, sales we have good activity in the rest from $6.5 to $10 million dollars of the market. The short answer are down 100% which sounds a is no one can say for sure, but I lot more dramatic than it is. Down was talking with a couple of other 100% means no sales this year brokers and all three of us kind of compared to 4 sales last year. felt the same thing. At the highWe do have 3 contracts waiting end people already have a couple
of houses and are not seeing the same pressure to “get out of Dodge” as the New York Times called it. The potential high-end buyers already have nice place outside of Dodge. The thought among the agent was that this group is more able to take a wait and see approach. While the stock market says it’s unlikely to happen, there is some concern about a major depression next year so low-yield government bonds look better than real estate and high-end buyers are keeping their powder dry. Overall sales are up 12.7% for the year with most of that increase happening pre-Covid. Post Cov id sa les a re bu mpy week by week. The common wisdom is that most of the buyers are families from NYC and we are seeing a lot of that. (I had three buyers referred to me this weekend.) What is interesting though is that I had 5 transaction in May, 2 sales, 2 contracts and a rental. In the case of the buyers a l l fou r o f t h e m we r e f r o m Greenwich and all were up-sizers. A couple of other brokers said they were seeing the same thing with Greenwich buyers being a bigger factor in the market in midcountry and backcountry. Many folk s in Greenw ich watch the real estate market very closely. Some of our smart, and hopefully prescient, local citizens see this as a window of
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GFD Chief Siecienski Retires By Richard Kaufman A f ter 48 years in f ire ser v ices, Greenw ich Fire Department Chief Peter Sie c ien sk i has hu ng up h is turnout gear. Last Friday morning, the department and members of the community trickled onto the apparatus floor at headquarters to w ish Sieciensk i luck in retirement. During the informal gathering, Siecienski received a proclamation from First Selectman Fred Camillo, and a pass to play golf at the Griffith E. Harris Golf Course. Sieciensk i, 6 3, was born in Greenw ich but began his f ire career as a volunteer in Danbury, where he eventually became chief. In the fall of 2006, he became the assistant f ire chief in Greenwich, and was later promoted to chief in March 2007. He said that now is the right time to step away because he feels the department is in good hands. " We wo rk ve r y h a r d o n suc c e s sion pla n n i n g s o we have a very smooth transition. It was pretty evident to me as we got a couple months into the pandemic, that the officers that
we have in this place have shown exceptional leadership," he said, adding that he'll miss everyone at the department. "This is a nice time I think to cut out." Over his tenure, Greenwich has made great strides in pr ote c t i n g t he c om mu n it y. Siecienski was instrumental in eliminating two f iref ighter companies, and placing a company officer on each piece of apparatus. He helped oversee improved insurance rating for property owners, the purchase of new pieces of apparatus, the renovations at the Glenville Fire Station, downtown he adq ua r ters, a nd now t he Byram Fire House. " Pe o p l e l i k e to p o i n t to buildings and apparatus, but those aren't really successes," S i e c i e n s k i s a i d . "A l l t h e firefighters went home at night or in the morning to their families. We did not lose a f iref ighter. Those are what successes are to me." Siecienski also pointed to the fact that for 13 years, the department and community qualified for national recognition by hav ing no f ire deaths. However, in 2006, a woman died
in a house fire on Windsor Lane in Cos Cob. "Did we not penetrate enough w ith good f ire prevention messages to make sure people didn't reenter houses? That to me is a setback and a failure," Siecienski added. Although no firefighters died in the line of duty over the last 14 years, several have succumbed to illnesses and suffered injuries, which Siecienski said has been hard to deal with. On June 1, Assistant Chief Robert Kick took over as the Interim Chief. The town will conduct a national search to f ind the next leader of the department. K i c k c a l l e d S i e c i e n sk i's impact "immeasurable" on the department and the community. "He'll be sorely missed, but with that being said, he prepared everybody properly all through t h e r a n k s . I t 's a s e a m l e s s transition. There's no hiccups, no changes in levels of service by any means. That's really how you have to develop the department so one or two of us can go away and it can still run seamlessly the next day," Kick said.
Camillo spoke about Sieciensk i's personality and demeanor. "His smiling face and personality really helped us t h r ou g h s o m e tou g h t i m e s here," Camillo said. "He always made me smile, he always made me laugh, even through the serious times. You knew that his experience and leadership was looked at as a calming effect on a lot of people, including the men that served under him." For mer First Selectman, Peter Tesei, was at headquarters to wish Siecienski well. Tesei served as the town's chief elected official for 12 years. "You were such a tremendous partner during my time and I enjoyed every minute of our collaboration. As a professional leader in the fire services, you accomplished a great deal in this town," he said. Siecienski said he plans on playing golf, and spending time with his family and new puppy in retired life. "It's been a good run. I've enjoyed my tenure here. The town has been very supportive of the fire department," he said.
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