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The Illusion of Inventory |
| What a year it was! 550 single family homes were sold in Fairfield County in December (down 8.8% from the previous December), to close out the year which saw a total of 6,355 homes sold – which was up 1.6% from the 2024 total. So, while the end of the year definitely portents a bit of a slowdown, we still enjoyed a heady Spring and Summer which was sufficient to propel our sales numbers above last year. |
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You can see the data here (December) and here (Full Year). |
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The Median Sales Price in the county for 2025 was a sizzling $790,000 (up 7.9% from last year), helped in no small part by a Fall market that refused to sell any homes at a bargain… December finally saw reality catch up to us, and the Median Sales Price dropped to $700,000 as sellers started to realize that if their homes weren’t selling quickly, they were overpriced.
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| Across Fairfield County in 2025, single family homes were selling for 2.8% over ask and taking 14 days on the market to do so. Condos fetched on average 1.3% over ask and required 15 days to receive the winning bid. Those numbers sound completely detached from the December reality: single family homes were taking 33 days on the market to get their offer while condos needed 27 days. Clearly, we’ve tapped the brakes a bit. |
| Here is where things get interesting: in December we saw 211 new listings introduced to the market (3.2% fewer than the prior December, which is essentially flat). With that relatively similar level of inventory, we saw 287 homes go under contract… 21.4% fewer than December of 2024! With such a crash in contracts being signed, you’d likely assume that we have adequate inventory and a massive drop in demand. That’s only half of the story, because you can’t have a lack of demand, more than adequate supply, and have an average price increase! |
| What we have is an Illusion of Inventory. Many of the homes introduced to the market in December are just not in the consideration set of the average buyer. They are either incorrectly priced or (more likely) they are not in the condition the buyer would expect for the price. This is why Days on Market is getting longer and December finally saw the Median Sales Price drop that we expect each Fall… there is lots of competition but only for homes that are desirable to the current set of buyers. |
| Something has to budge, and after a few months of playing chicken, it appears that sellers are finally starting to cut their prices to change the calculous for the buyers. It’s possible that some of the price reductions are actually larger than the needed renovation costs would have been, so before making such a bold move, I’d recommend speaking to your realtor about other options! |
| As always, I’d love to grab a coffee and discuss in greater detail – reach out with any questions! |
Market Report •
January 13, 2026
December 2025 Market Report
