The Tax Assessor confirms what we've been seeing: COVID has stabilized backcountry values.

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At least temporarily. I’m not convinced that the shift from rural (sic) splendid isolation to close-in neighborhoods has been permanently reversed, but for now, the back country has regained popularity.

GREENWICH — Don’t call it a comeback, but talk of the backcountry’s demise is greatly exaggerated.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, home buyers appeared to be losing interest in the large homes on big lots in the rural part of town north of the Merritt Parkway.

When Town Assessor Lauren Elliott prepared for the revaluation process in 2020, she said she expected “to see a rather large tax shift off the backcountry to elsewhere” in town.

“In reality,” Elliott told the Board of Estimate and Taxation’s Budget Committee last month, when the revaluation was finished, “the backcountry ended up holding its value mostly due to COVID. People didn’t want to be on top of each other.”

The 2021 Grand List of $33.987 billion in Greenwich, the largest in the state, is the first one assembled since last year’s revaluation of all property in town. The increase of nearly $1.765 billion over 2020, or 5.5 percent, shows the impact of the record home sales during the COVID-19 pandemic, she said.

The stock of homes for sale in Greenwich is way down, and the value of real estate is way up, Elliott said.

… In an interview with Greenwich Time, Elliott elaborated and said it was important not to use a “broad brush” when looking at property values, particularly in the backcountry.

“We did not have to reduce the value of the backcountry as much as we thought we were going to prior to COVID,” she said. “The distinction right now that everyone needs to understand is what is selling and what is not. Right now, what is selling is housing that has been renovated and is new.” [emphasis added]

The real estate market is strong, Elliott said, with buyers looking for updated housing and open space, which has given a boost to the backcountry.

There was a large supply of backcountry homes before COVID hit, she said. And many sold for a lot of money, including homes that had been on the market for a long time, she said.

“COVID certainly changed things,” Elliott said, pointing to a “mass exodus from New York,” leading to many quick home sales.