Darien realtors are seeing a lot of activity in early 2012, and say that families are still buying homes in Darien.
Photo credit: File

DARIEN, Conn. – Darien Realtors Doug Werner and Doug Milne are guardedly optimistic about the housing market in town at the start of the year. Though the end of 2011 did not bring the usual fourth quarter sales boost, they have seen much activity in January.

“We’re not completely out of the woods, but the market is not getting worse,” said Werner, who works for William Pitt Sotheby’s. The average price of a house in Darien in 2011 was $1,693,347, compared with $1,693,593 in 2010. The price stability is a good sign, he says.

“We never really saw that fourth quarter boost that we normally see, but that may be spilling over into the first quarter of 2012. We’re seeing a little more activity, which is encouraging," Werner said. 

“I’ve been working seven days a week,” said Milne, a realtor for Kelly Associates. “Clearly, there are more people out there looking to buy homes.”

Both Realtors agree that the days of buying and flipping houses are over. But people are still purchasing houses in town, particularly young families with children. “Now would be a good time to buy a house,” Werner said, citing low financing and interest rates.

Though prices have dropped significantly since the 2008 market crash, Milne said sellers who recognize that are getting their houses sold. He says not many houses are sitting on the market, waiting to sell.

Werner said that some of the news over the past year has kept the number of transactions from rising, including worries about the state of the Euro, defaults in Italy and Greece, and concerns last summer over a government shut down.

“Those issues wormed their way through the system and affected home sales," Werner said. 

Both are hopeful that activity will continue to grow during spring. Werner said the presidential election could cause business to slow in August and September.