Multi-Family Market - A Look At Today's Climate

The multi-family market has been a surprising subset of the general real estate market in Lower Fairfield County. At Blast REI, we have been seeking homeowners who don't have the patience to continue up-keep of the property and landlord duties for these properties. The reasons are simple: we (this market) need inventory, and would pay cash for these types of properties. On a more broad scale, we have a set of buyers seeking this type of inventory as quickly as possible. Let's delve into the major multi-family markets in this area, specifically Norwalk, Fairfield, and Stamford:

​As of this writing, there were 46 multi-family homes that sold in Norwalk within the past 365 days. There are currently 6 on the market.

Despite this market's differentiation from the single family market, there is still one major similarity currently: a lack of inventory. Inventory is down 15% from a year ago, median sales price are up 12.1%, and market time is down almost 50%. These numbers signal a healthy and robust multi-family market in the city. Let's not forget these numbers are higher because there is less of a sample size with which to compare.

There were 82 multi-family homes that sold in Stamford within the past 365 days. There are currently 16 on the market.

Stamford's multi-family market is similar to Norwalk, but has a major difference - which is odd: Market time is up 150% year over year. Considering that median sales price rose 22.7% in the same time, and inventory decreased 50%, you would think that market time would have gone down as well, but that is not the case. With 40 units on market compared to 20, there is a significant sample size, so what could be the cause of such a contradictory set of data? These are usually correlated data points, in-line with economics 101, low supply equals higher prices, and therefore more demand - i.e. shorter time on market. 

There were 21 multi-family homes that sold in Fairfield within the past 365 days. There are currently 3 on the market.

​Fairfield is seeing a similar trend, though because there are so few homes on the market, the data seems skewed. The inventory rose 40% (that's 5 units to 7), but median price rose 16.7% and market time continued to fall to almost 30%. Also interestingly, the sales to list price ratio, or how close these homes sell to the list price, went up 11.4% closing in on 96% (so if a home is listed at $100,000, it would sell at $96,000).

What Does This Mean To Me?

With such a market, and so few multi-family homes available, there is great opportunity if you own such a property. Prices are on the rise, and as a seller, you are in a great position. We can buy your property cash, or hand-deliver investors to you.

As a buyer, this means that you need to find resources to get you into as much property as possible. Don't blink, because these homes will be off the market. Move quickly, listen to your Realtor if they tell you to move on something.

Needless to say, as a buyer or owner, your returns will suffer with prices of the property increasing, but your appreciation will hopefully offset this. We see buyers taking less cash flow in exchange for higher expected future value.

What Else Can You Teach Me?

With all of this said, if you own a multi-family here in this area, and you don't want to sell, make sure to continue to maintain the property as if you were living in it. The most value you can provide, to increase your future sales price, is to get a great rental history, and continue to increase your rents. These tips might help with that goal.

If you own these types of cash flow properties, or really any property, note that continuing to improve the property will generate increased competition when the time to go on market comes.

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Feel free to reach out if you want to sell - we will leverage our buyer/investor network to your benefit, possibly saving money/time. Or, we might even buy it ourselves (for cash).

If you want to buy something, you now become the beneficiary of our networking - we will continue to find great options for buyer/investors like you. You might even continue to peek at our Inventory Page, or follow us on our Facebook Page to be one of the first to see. Neither of these compares to being on our buyers list, as those relationships get to see our inventory first. Contact us to learn more.