By Judy Szablak

Westport’s homes are getting larger, and the average prices are creeping up, too. As of today, the average single family home in Westport is listed at just under $2.6 million, has 11 rooms, which include five bedrooms, and almost 5,450 square feet of living area.

Featured Home: This home at 8 Hogan Trail is listed at $1,725,000. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Photo courtesy of William Pitt Sotheby’s/Westport.

That’s quite a contrast to the 34 properties which are available as of today that are priced under $1 million. One could reasonably expect that homes in this price range would be built in the 1950s and have approximately 2,200 square feet.

Additionally, just one fourth of all of our available housing inventory is priced between $1-2 million, and these homes have an average of 10 rooms, four bedrooms, and approximately 4,400 square feet.

The last few years has brought about a lot of new construction, and of the 85 homes currently on the market that were built in 2010 or later, average size has increased 20 percent over the town-wide average to 6,769 square feet.

The newest recipients of an historical plaque from the Westport Historical Society (WHS) are the owners of the house at 30 Charcoal Hill Road. Matt Magsig, his wife Lily and daughter Charli, 19 months, moved into the house in May 2014. It was built by architect Frazier Peters in 1930 and is known as the Frazier Peters House. The plaque was presented by Bob Weingarten, WHS house historian. He said of the 41 Westport houses that have been documented as designed by Frazier Peters, “this house is especially significant in that it was Peters’ own house, his actual residence.” (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

By Judy Szablak

The most recent S&P/Case-Shiller Price Index points out a lack of inventory across the country along with slower price appreciation. This sounds a lot like Westport’s real estate market.

Featured Home: This home at 89 Morningside Drive South is listed at $2,995,000. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Photo courtesy of Coldwell Banker Westport-Riverside/ M & D properties

Lower than average inventory coupled with stricter lending standards appears to have had an impact on single family home appreciation in November.

Matching the expectations of many analysts, the 20 metropolitan areas saw gains that mirrored October 2007 at 4.3 percent,  as compared to a 4.5 percent annual increase in October.

Although Chairman David Blitzer felt that “prospects for a home run in 2015 aren’t good,” we have already seen the market pick up ever so slightly in Westport, and initial deposits are on the rise, as are multiple bids on properties in certain price pockets.