Traditionally, Greenwich, Connecticut, was the suburb of choice for those on Wall Street, and the home values reflected that. The same can’t be said today, according to an article by Patrick Clark for Bloomberg.
The small town is just 30 miles northeast of New York, and has about 60,000 residents. It is now known for having “lousy property investments,” according to the article.
In fact, Barry Sternlicht, Starwood Capital Group founder, said at the CNBC Institutional Investor Delivering Alpha Conference that Greenwich may have the worst housing market in the country.
From the article:
“You can’t give away a house in Greenwich,” he said.
This is an overstatement, of course—the median home value is $1.4 million, according to Zillow. It’s also not quite news to local sellers, who have been complaining about a soft market for at least five years. Lower pay on Wall Street has left the market short of buyers willing to pay millions for a home in the U.S. hedge fund capital, even as the national economy has emerged from the recession.
Lower Wall Street compensation is just one reason for the soft market, according to the article. Another factor driving down demand is the longer commute.
From the article:
Given the current pace of sales, it would take 33 months to sell through the inventory of homes in “back-country” Greenwich, according to Miller. That compares to 15 months for the inventory in “mid-country” Greenwich.
