Median Prices in Danbury, Fairfield County Remain Strong

Housing prices are generally spiraling downward nationwide. But in the Danbury area, it’s more like a slow glide.

“I would say prices have come down little more slowly,’’ said realtor Ed DeBellis of The Wright Team in Danbury to The News-Times. “Will this continue? Who knows?”

On Thursday, the U.S Commerce Department said the median price of a new house in the United States is now $217,100 - a 9.7 percent decline from Sept. 2005 to Sept. 2006 . It’s the steepest drop in house prices in the United States in 35 years.

However, in the greater Danbury/Fairfield County region the median cost of a house is much higher - about $400,000. And while prices are declining, realtors are saying that drop is closer to about 5 percent. It’s slow and steady, causing some to remain priced out of the Connecticut housing market.

“We’re always the last to go down and the first to bounce back,’’ said Realtor Sal Pandolfi of Danbury.

Realtors say the situation is simply a market correction. After a long stretch of boom years, prices rose to the point where no one was buying property. The inventory of homes for sale in the region grew and supply outpaced mortgage loan demand.

“I’ve lived here since 1963 and I’ve been selling real estate since 1965,’’ said Cathy Masi, one of the owners of Flagpole Realty in Newtown. “We’ve had an upward swing here for the past 15 years. It’s the longest I’ve ever seen. But maybe a year, a year and a half ago, prices went stagnant. Now, they’re going down some.’’

But Masi said she’s now seeing a renewed interest in buying a home, including the $1 million houses at the high end of the market.

“It’s because of where we are,’’ she said. “Fairfield County is where the jobs are.’’

In other words: there’s never any real danger of a crash here. People often take out mortgages with the intention of moving into such a healthy economic sector.