Doug Werner said housing prices in Darien have drastically increased from levels in 2009.

Photo Credit: Fenella Pearson

Doug Werner

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Doug Werner

House sales in Darien last year showed a vast improvement over sales in 2009, says Doug Werner, a Darien Realtor. Whether that means the market has turned around after a disastrous crash remains to be seen, but indicators are looking good.

Werner, who works at William Pitt Sotheby's International Realty, said, "2009 was killer. It was a tough year. The highest price for a house was $5.1 million. Last year, it was $10.2 million."

Darien has defied the national decline in housing prices. The median sales price last month jumped 23.2 percent compared with this same period a year ago, according to Trulia.com.

But the number of homes sold plunged more than 50 percent from this same period in 2009. That may be due to all the snow, which Werner said makes selling houses difficult.

"Bad weather is not a great time to sell. Houses don't look good covered in ice and snow, and it's tough for people to get around," Werner said. It has cut the number of days prospective buyers are able to check out houses, he said. But people are still interested in buying, and it has required only some rearranging of schedules.

Darien home values peaked near the top of the bubble in early 2006 and again in early 2010, after investors recovered from the stock market crash. "Typically since the late 1990s you could expect between 300 and 360 sales a year," Werner said. "Last year, there were 248, compared to 182 in 2009."

Local real estate prices weakened toward the end of last year, but they're on the rise again, according to Trulia.com. The latest median price of a house in Darien is $1,079,500

Though sales remain slow compared with this point last year, overall the annual sale rate shows the market is in recovery mode.

A total of 13 houses sold last year for more than $4 million, Werner said, compared with five or six the previous year.

"There's still room for improvement, but clearly last year was better than 2009. It's stopped bleeding."

What do you think of the condition of the Darien housing market? Are you trying to buy or sell a home in Darien? Join the conversation below or on Facebook.