Murtaugh Minute
Ridgefield resident and realtor Karla Murtaugh’s unparalleled industry knowledge is a gift to our town. Karla walks the walk and talks the talk; volunteering for a plethora of local nonprofits and supporting them by way of sponsorship and leadership. Here, we sit down with Karla for our “Murtaugh Minute” and get an inside look at what the real estate market looks like in and around Ridgefield.
Q: Is it too late to jump into the spring market?
A: Definitely not. My phone is ringing off the hook. We’re in a lot of discussions about listing homes in the coming weeks. Many people realize there’s no better time than now if they’re going to jump in. Prices are holding and in some segments, they’re increasing because supply and demand is still driving this market. We’ve had a number of homes that just launched last week, a number of which received multiple bids. This demonstrates that there are still really good qualified buyers out in the market. This isn’t just in Ridgefield, either. Based on my discussions with Compass agents throughout Fairfield and Westchester Counties, they’re experiencing the exact same situation.
Q: Why is there such low inventory?
A: The dynamic we’re experiencing is called an “inventory-starved market.” There are a few reasons why. No one expected the impact Covid would have on the real estate market. Right before that happened, there were a lot of people who were getting close to the point in life where they would have had to figure out their next chapter and where they would want to move. Obviously, the pandemic had a huge effect on that nationwide, not just in our area.
This took a lot of people by surprise, and accelerated their decision on what their next move would be. For example, retirement plans were definitely affected for a lot of people and when they decided it was time to make a move, they ran into the same problem many people had. “Where do I go? What is the plan?” Many people are having this experience nationwide where there isn’t a lot of inventory including in destinations where people go from Connecticut, both points north and south, so it’s hard for people to move to different parts of the country as well.
People who migrated from New York to Connecticut didn’t know how long they’d be here for when they arrived. A lot of people predicted that once things went back to normal post-pandemic, those people would turn around and go back to the city. But we’re not really seeing that in Ridgefield. People love it here! So those houses aren’t coming back on the market the way some people thought.
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