High-end home sellers need patience as buyers push for value
HBJ PHOTO | John Stearns
Margaret Wilcox, Realtor and team leader at Margaret Wilcox & Associates at William Raveis Real Estate in Glastonbury, shows a home she has listed for $1.075 million in Glastonbury.
Joyce Talbot knows her meticulous, updated Glastonbury home situated on about 2 acres and surrounded by apple trees will sell in time — she just has to be patient.
Her house, with a $1.075 million price tag, has been on the market for about nine months, not uncommon for luxury properties in Greater Hartford, which are taking longer to sell than lower-priced homes, realty experts say. Regional sales of high-end homes are also lagging the broader market.
“I wouldn't say [luxury homes] are sitting on the market — but they're taking a little longer to sell,” said Margaret Wilcox, who has Talbot's home listing and is Realtor and team leader at Margaret Wilcox & Associates at William Raveis Real Estate in Glastonbury.
Watch a video interview with Margaret Wilcox below.
The median days on market for homes sold in Hartford County last year was 48 days, but for homes priced at least $1 million, days on market totaled 111.
Talbot got an offer early in her listing that she and her husband, Rod, rejected, thinking it was too low, but “hindsight's always 20-20,” she said. They lowered the asking price by $125,000 in November and, as Wilcox said, are waiting for the next right offer.
“Just have to be patient,” said Talbot, who's retiring with her husband to Florida to be closer to their son, daughter-in-law and future grandchildren. Her home was built in 2002 and has been well maintained, she said.
While Connecticut's broader real estate market experienced higher sales in 2015, luxury home sales were generally flat last year: 55 homes sold for $1 million or more in Hartford County, compared to 56 a year earlier, and 340 homes sold for $600,000 to $999,999, down from 366 in 2014, according to statistics provided by Joanne Breen, broker/owner at ERA Sargis-Breen Real Estate in Newington and Berlin and president of the Greater Hartford Association of Realtors.
The towns of Avon, Farmington, Glastonbury, Simsbury and West Hartford account for the bulk of sales in each price category in Greater Hartford.
What's considered a high-end home in Greater Hartford is somewhat subjective and varies by location, starting at $500,000 or $550,000 in some towns and $600,000 and up in others. Clearly, $1 million and up qualifies.
John Lepore, a Realtor in the West Hartford office of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New England Properties, who sells a lot of high-end real estate and last year held the distinction for most dollar volume sold in Greater Hartford at almost $50 million, considers $1 million and up high end, and $750,000 and up higher end. He sold the most expensive home in Greater Hartford last year, at $3.5 million in Farmington.
He said the high-end market is seeing more buyers and higher sales in 2016, but flat pricing.
In other words, buyers are getting a lot for their money.
“That's what people want today — buyers want value,” Lepore said. “Since 2008 they've really focused on value.”
Lepore said he's noticed more buyers not wanting to or not having the time to deal with renovations; they generally want move-in ready homes. They want things done and will pay more for that, he said.
He's hopeful, with a continued environment of low interest rates and prices that have declined or stagnated, that sales of high-end homes will tick up this year. He likes the activity he's seeing so far in 2016, but is cautious about whether prices will rise.
“[Homes] have to be priced aggressively and buyers want a value and then your house will sell,” he said.
Wilcox, too, is cautious about home prices rising anytime soon in the luxury segment.
“I think we're going to be stable for a while and we're all hoping that there will be an uptick in the market as far as more activity, more deposits and the prices going up from a seller's standpoint, but I think it may not be this spring,” she said. “It may be next spring that we see prices start to go up, but the activity is definitely there.”
That activity has been evident in the broader real estate market as well, with full-year 2015 sales for all single-family homes rising 9.7 percent in Greater Hartford. The median sales price of $212,000, however, was down 1.4 percent for the year, despite rising in November and December. The median sales prices rose again in January.
Debbie Battista, a Realtor for the Toll Brothers development Weatherstone of Avon, is seeing strong activity in new-home sales at the luxury community, which advertises prices starting at $699,995. It's about 75 percent sold out.
“I'm feeling very good about it,” Battista said of the high-end market. “I just put up two sold signs this week [in early March].”
Another Toll community, Glastonbury Estates, that recently opened is seeing very good sales, too, Battista said. Prices in that community start at $654,995.
While Breen is happy to see the broader market rebounding, she's concerned about Connecticut's tax and business climate driving more wealthy individuals away from the state.
“I think that is the biggest concern in the real estate community,” Breen said. “We're not seeing people brought in like we used to.”
Legislators and others need to pull together to address the state's budget crisis and also talk about the good things Connecticut has to offer, she said, calling Realtors one of the state's biggest proponents. They want retirees coming back and students staying after college, she said.
“I'm still seeing enough activity, new activity, fresh activity, people coming to Connecticut,” she said.
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High-End Real Estate with Margaret Wilcox of William Raveis Real Estate
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