An interesting year coming up

There's yet to be a meeting of the minds on the value of this project, for instance

Nothing you haven't read here,many times, but the CT Post reports that high end Greenwich home sales aren't matching the price recovery in the rest of the country.

Stories proclaiming U.S. housing prices had finally surpassed prerecession peaks highlighted national real estate news in November, with high-end homes joining in the celebration. Yet the trend doesn’t hold true in Greenwich.

“There was clearly a boom in many downtown metropolitan areas after the recession,” said Mark Pruner of Coldwell Banker. “We did not see that as much in Greenwich, and the exact causes of that are unclear.”

Pruner speculated Connecticut’s “perception for taxing high-income individuals” and its mismatched market for people’s wants in a home could be to blame.

It’s become a common explanation that home buyers increasingly prefer smaller lots closer to town, and the sprawling estates of backcountry Greenwich don’t fit that description. The downtown housing market, especially sub-markets like Riverside and Old Greenwich, are doing well, realtors say.

Around 30 homes sold in November, according to town records. Most sales represented the part of the market doing well — homes priced around $2 million and near to town. And a few backcountry sales joined their ranks — a handful of homes sold for prices between $3 million and $7.5 million, according to Greenwich.net, but that topped out the market.

Homes between $1 million and $2 million “continue to be the major driver in Greenwich,” according to Pruner. Almost 40 percent of the town’s home sales for the year fell in that range, his analysis stated.

Of course, if you factor in inflation, home prices nationally are still 16% below their 2006 level , so that's unpleasant. What affect will the rise in mortgage rates have on our still-active $1-$2 million homes? Usually at that level the housing dollar is a fixed pie, with slices divided between the seller and the lender. Pay the bank more, you'll have to pay the seller less.

That, too, could be unpleasant.