By Judy Szablak

There have been a number of recent articles about the Connecticut real estate market, saying in general the state lags behind the rest of the country.

Featured Home: This home at 21 Beachside Common is listed at $2,999,000. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Photo courtesy of Coldwell Banker Westport-Riverside

However, one should not necessarily interpret that to mean that Westport’s recovery has mirrored the overall state situation.

According to one recent article, single family homes in Connecticut gained just 0.5 percent in value, while 6 percent gains were posted on a national basis.

Westport’s market tells a different story. In fact, our unit sales are up this year by 14 percent, and our average closed prices are up by 3.5 percent over last year at this time.

Westport real estate price changes over the past week:

69 Valley Road             $695,000->$679,000
2 Ruta Court                 $795,000->$760,000
6 Berkeley Hill               $800,000->$780,000
282 Saugatuck Ave.    $870,000->$850,000
4 Janson Court         $1,199,999->$1,099,000
12 Center St.        $1,275,000->$1,225,000
110 C Imperial Ave.    $1,299,000->$1,275,000
2 Mystic Lane       $1,339,000->$1,324,500
49 Reichert Circle     $1,525,000->$1,489,000
6 Weathervane Hill     $1,549,000->$1,499,000
14 Sea Spray Road     $1,625,000->$1,500,000
62 North Ave.      $1,675,000->$1,599,000
28 Roseville Road       $1,749,000->$1,699,000
20 Reichert Circle       $1,799,900->$1,699,900
22 Pumpkin Hill Road   $1,850,000->$1,800,000
38 Fairfield Ave.        $1,975,000->$1,875,000
27 Pequot Trail         $1,949,000->$1,899,000
27 Burnham Hill         $2,375,000->$2,000,000
8 Marilane               $2,299,000->$2,125,000
3 Pheasant Lane         $2,495,000->$2,249,000
42 Sylvan Road North   $2,395,000->$2,349,000
12 Jennings Court       $2,649,000->$2,499,000
31 Burnham Hill     $3,195,000->$2,995,000
33 Sherwood Drive     $3,150,000->$2,995,000
2 Pritchard Lane     $3,999,999->$3,750,000
3 Hillside Road           $4,199,000->$3,900,000
—Judy Szablak

By Judy Szablak

There are currently 75 newly built homes in Westport, 44 of which have a completion date in 2017.

Featured Home: This home at 19 Center St. is listed at $2,475,000. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Photo courtesy of Westport Residential

Those 75 homes comprise approximately 20 percent of our available inventory, and over the last year 13.8 percent of the new home sales reported to our Multiple Listing Service increased our townwide average sales price by over $157,000.

As of today, 16 newly built homes are under some stage of deposit, and there were 57 sales in the last year that had an average sold price of $2,470,618.

New construction is healthy for the real estate market, and indicates movement from starter homes, to midlevel homes, as well as luxury properties.