Column: Cos Cob Real Estate Report

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By Mark Pruner
Dashboard Editor

Cos Cob is having a boom year. In all of last year we sold 66 houses in Cos Cob, and as of this week, we already have 64 home sales with the fall market still to go. If you annualize the sales so far, we would be looking at an amazing 95 sales for the year (and this even takes into account the slower sales in the last four months of the year). In addition to the 64 sales, we have another 12 Cos Cob sales waiting to close. 

Over the last five years the average sales price in Cos Cob has increased steadily from $1.12 million in 2011 to $1.37 million this year — a total increase of 22 percent or a compounded rate of 4.5 percent. If you look at the ratio of sales price to assessed value, then the total increase is 29 percent or 5.6 percent a year. 

Another way to look at appreciation is the price per square foot, a favorite of the Zillows and Trulias of the online world. Cos Cob’s price per square foot has gone from $375 per square foot in 2011 to $492 this year, an increase of 31 percent. During the same period, the average size of a house in Cos Cob has stayed around 2,900 square feet plus or minus 200 square feet. 

So on the three different measures we have appreciation that varies from 22 percent to 31 percent, but they all point in the same direction. Cos Cob houses have been a good investment, particularly in a time of very low inflation. 

In many ways, Old Greenwich and Riverside south of the Post Road have been driving the increase in Cos Cob prices (and also in Glenville). As more young families find the prices in these areas to be too high, they are buying in Cos Cob. Cos Cob also is taking advantage of the weakness of Greenwich’s high-end market. Over the last four years the highest sales price in Cos Cob has been around $3,000,000, not near the $4 million-plus price range, where we start to see significantly lower buyer demand. 

The other thing about Cos Cob is all parts of this area are popular with buyers whether near the  Post Road or on our windiest street, Cognewaugh. As to inventory  we have only 43 Cos Cob listings out of 610 total single family home listings in Greenwich. When you add the 64 sales to date with the 12 contracts you get of a total of 76 houses in Cos Cob that buyers have liked. So Cos Cob has 7% of the inventory in town, but has 16% of the total sales. 

As mentioned much of Cos Cob’s popularity is due to having the right price range at the right time. I have been working with an investor looking at houses from $600K to $900K and we have been in three multiple bid situations this month. One of them was a listing around $700K just over the Mianus in Riverside and 70 people showed up for an open house last Sunday. In Cos Cob there are only  4 listings between $600K and $900K left after 18 have sold or gone to contract. 

The Greenwich market under $1M is doing well with good, even high, demand. In Cos Cob sales seem to do well at all price levels. 

Cos Cob is a very nice place to live. 

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