Topic
Prices, sales, inventory and rates. Every figure carries its source and its period.
Buyer’s GuideMortgages
Adjustable loans have their largest share of mortgage applications in about a year, and their starting rate is about eight-tenths of a point lower. The saving is real for five years. What happens after that depends on caps most borrowers never read.
Seller’s DeskNational
In the second quarter of 2026, 49.1 percent of outstanding U.S. mortgages carried a rate below 4 percent, FHFA data show, while Freddie Mac’s 30-year average reached 7.28 percent on Oct. 1. How much an owner would borrow again matters more than the rate given up.
Seller’s DeskTampa
Older homes are 41 of 53 sampled in Palma Ceia and Sunset Park and average 26.3 percent of the new construction price. Redfin puts the 33629 median sale at $1,334,423, up 0.7 percent, and, citing First Street, counts 89 percent of properties at risk of severe flooding over 30 years.
RatesNational
Freddie Mac’s 30-year average rose a quarter point in a week to 7.28 percent, the highest since November 2023 and 1.30 points above February’s low. On a loan for 80 percent of the national median price, that is about $215 a month more than a year ago.
Home Prices
The S&P Cotality Case-Shiller national index rose 1.9 percent in the year to July, its fastest since June 2025, but inflation ran at 3.4 percent. Six of the 19 metros reported were lower than a year earlier.
4 min read
Seller’s Desk
NAR’s 2025 profile put the typical seller at 64 with a record 11 years of ownership, ATTOM found March closings sold 10.7 percent above automated valuations against 7.9 percent in October, and Freddie Mac’s 30-year average stood at 7.28 percent as October 2026 began.
7 min read
Home Sales
Existing-home sales ran at a 3.98 million annual pace in August, the slowest since June 2025, while 1.62 million homes sat on the market. Contract signings edged up 0.3 percent but stayed 4.7 percent below a year earlier.
4 min read
Older Home Index
The Address District Older Home Index ranks 1,192 neighborhoods and towns in 39 states by the number of homes built in 1980 or earlier. Tampa, Naples and Truckee lead it.
2 min read
Older Home Index
Florida has more neighborhoods in the index than any other state, and more near the top, from Tampa’s Palma Ceia to Miami’s Coconut Grove and Pinecrest.
2 min read
Older Home Index
Arizona has four neighborhoods in the top 25 of the Older Home Index and Tennessee has two. In Brentwood, the largest sample in the index, most homes are newer.
2 min read
Older Home Index
In 27 neighborhoods with at least 10 homes in the sample, older homes averaged a fifth of the price of new construction or less. What that gap means when you sell.
2 min read
Older Home Index
In most of the index, older homes sell for a fraction of new ones. In a dozen neighborhoods, from Arden, North Carolina, to North Scottsdale, the sample shows the reverse.
2 min read
Older Home Index
Birmingham, Michigan, and Wilmette, Illinois, lead a short list of neighborhoods with at least eight homes sampled, every one built in 1980 or earlier.
2 min read
Older Home Index
Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts have 189 neighborhoods and towns in the index. Westport ranks highest, at 18th, and central Greenwich counts 11 older homes of 12.
2 min read
Older Home Index
California has 177 ZIP codes in the Older Home Index but only five in the top 100. Truckee ranks third nationally, and California’s older homes hold more of their price against new construction.
2 min read
Rates
At the town’s median price, the jump from last year’s rate adds about $1,215 a month to principal and interest. Here is the math at three price points.
2 min read
Seller’s Desk
ATTOM’s study of 52 million sales put the seller premium at 10.7 percent in March and 7.9 percent in October. Westport had just 59 single-family houses for sale in August, down 35.9 percent, while last fall’s accepted offers, across all home types, took a median 45 days and the 30-year rate reached 7.28 percent on Oct. 1.
7 min readMarket Report
The single-family median is up 5.9 percent through August, and the number of houses for sale is down by more than a third. Mortgage rates just reached their highest level since November 2023.
4 min read
Market Data
Twenty-five condominiums sold in Westport from January through September, down by a third. For buyers who want to stay in town without a house, the options are thin.
2 min read
Deals
From a $15.5 million Tudor on Beachside Avenue to a run of seven-figure closings in June, the year’s top residential transfers as recorded in weekly town filings.
3 min read
Market Data
Westport sits in the middle of the lower Fairfield County ladder, below Greenwich, New Canaan and Darien and well above Weston and Fairfield. Three different measures say the same thing.
2 min read
Market Data
Offers accepted between September and December have tracked the market for three years running. Price per square foot rose every fall, while the median house price flattened in 2025.
2 min read