Why Do Fairfield Pages Show Such Different Sold Medians? Reading the Beach, Greenfield Hill and the Census Move-In Years

Why do the Fairfield medians differ so much?

The pages differ in what they count. The tracker's $999,999 is a median of six months of closings across the town, with the middle half running from $695,000 to $1,625,000, so the upper edge is 2.3 times the lower, computed here. The brokerage report's $1,175,000 is a town median for what the report calls early 2026, but it cites its data source as September 2026, a date that does not fit the period. Redfin's $1.2 million is for the three months ending April, up 8.1%, with 84 homes sold in April against 74 a year earlier (Redfin, Fairfield postal area housing market). The Realtor.com figure of $1,358,000 is labeled September. These are four windows.

The sold medians and the listing median conflict in the way a mix would explain. Realtor.com's listing median of $1,749,000 is 28.8% above its own sold median of $1,358,000, computed here, and the page shows the listing median down 10.80% while the sold median is up 0.59%. Listings are the homes offered now, and sales are the homes that closed over past months. If the homes on offer lean to larger or more expensive houses, the two medians separate. That is an inference, labeled as such, and the page does not show its mix.

Zillow's page for the town shows an average home value of $991,582, up 8.4% and with homes going pending in about 13 days, updated August 31, 2026 (Zillow, Fairfield home values). A data page from May shows a typical Fairfield value of $1,065,388 as of February, up 6.4%, and prices $1,071,096 for the postal area, $708,726 for another postal area in town and $1,416,342 for Southport (Data page, Fairfield home prices by ZIP). The town's later Zillow value of $991,582 is 6.9% below the February value of $1,065,388, computed here, though both pages describe Zillow values as rising. They may describe different geographies or series, and neither says.

A fifth page puts a typical home value for the postal area at $783,927 and a median listing price of $1,749,000, down 4.1% from $1,824,500, with 116 active listings and 56 pending (Market page, Fairfield postal area report). The listing median matches Realtor.com's dollar figure, but the change is 4.1% where Realtor.com shows 10.80%, and the typical value is 2.2 times smaller than the listing median, computed here. The page is a commercial page from a firm that markets reduced-commission selling, and this brief does not use its commission claims.

Is Fairfield several markets under one name?

The June brokerage article says so. It names Fairfield Beach, Greenfield Hill, Sasco Hill and Southport as the upper end and says the best pricing signals for a luxury seller come from those pockets first. It gives Fairfield Beach a median listing price of $2.1495 million with 24 homes for sale, Greenfield Hill $2.499 million with 14 homes and a median of 48 days on market, and Sasco Hill one home for sale. The Greenfield Hill median listing price is 2.1 times the town's median listing price of $1.212 million, computed here. These are the article's figures from a single date and were not checked.

The article gives postal-area figures that differ by area. For the postal area that includes most of the town, it gives a median sale price of $1,189,401, 29 days on market, a sale-to-list ratio of 105.0% and 67.1% of homes selling above list. For Southport, it gives 27 days and 102.6%, and for another postal area in town, 101.4%. Its supply counts are 83 homes for sale in the main postal area, 63 in the second, up 26.32%, and 20 in Southport, up 122.22% from a very small base. The three counts add to 166, which matches the townwide figure, a sum this brief computed.

The same article lists recent sales as lessons in pricing. One sold at $1.8 million against a $1.699 million list price, 5.9% above, in 30 days. Another sold at $1.975 million against $1.899 million, 4.0% above, in 61 days. A third sold at $3.1 million against $3.449 million, 10.1% below, in 78 days. In Southport one sold at $2.4 million against $1.995 million, 20.3% above, in 50 days, and one at $12 million sold at its list price after 284 days. The percentages are computed here from the prices. Five sales are an anecdote and not a market, but they show a spread from 10% below list to 20% above in one season.

The brokerage report adds neighborhood color and its own contradictions. It describes Greenfield Hill as the top of the price range, with colonial-era churches, orchards and large lots, and says Fairfield's inventory is almost entirely single-family, which fits the Census count of 80.5% detached. It also says the market is running hot, with 2.9 months of inventory, and calls that an inventory crisis. Its table says the sale-to-list ratio is 106.1% and its text says 103.8%, and its table says 31 days on market and its text says 24. A report that disagrees with itself by 2.3 points of sale-to-list and 7 days should be read as indicative only.

How fast do Fairfield homes sell, and what does supply look like?

The clocks run from 13 days to 48. The tracker gives a median of 19 days from listing to contract across 296 closings, plus 32 days from contract to closing across 293, which adds to 51 days if the two medians come from similar sales. Zillow says about 13 days to pending. Redfin's April page says 29 days, down from 36, and the June article says 28 for the town and 29 for the postal area. The brokerage report says 31 days in its table and 24 in its text. Realtor.com says 46 days, a median that its page calls a hot market, and the August version of the same data in the commercial page says 46 days against 50 a year earlier. Greenfield Hill's 48 days is the longest clock in the pages, in the submarket with the highest prices.

Supply is where the pages differ most. The brokerage article counts 166 homes for sale townwide in June and 83 in the main postal area. The commercial page counts 116 in August and Realtor.com 106 in September, down 15.15% over a year and down 22.94% from August, computed by the page. The brokerage report calculates 2.9 months of inventory. The counts could all be right, since supply changes by the month, and the postal area count of 83 in June sits between a spring and an autumn count that move the other way. A seller cannot read the direction of supply from pages that disagree on its level.

The sale-to-list ratio is more uniform. The tracker does not give one. The June article gives 103% for the town and 105.0% for the postal area. Realtor.com gives 103%, and the brokerage report gives 106.1% or 103.8%. Taken together, buyers paid at or a few points above list in 2026 in these pages. On a $1,175,000 sale, 3% is $35,250, an illustration computed here from a ratio and not a measure of any one sale. The article's own sales range from 10% below list to 20% above, so a ratio of 103% describes the average and not any particular home.

Rents add one more figure. Realtor.com's median rent is $5,650 a month, down 13.08% over a year, and the data page gives $3,895 for the postal area, while the Census median rent is $2,264. The first is 2.5 times the Census figure and the second 1.7 times, computed here. Asking rents on new listings usually run above the rents paid by long-term tenants, and the Census figure is a five-year average across all renters, so the gap is expected, but the two online figures also disagree with each other by 45%.

Sources as cited. The windows, areas and measures differ and the figures are not directly comparable. Commercial content; not independently verified.

What does the Census say about Fairfield homes, owners and vacancies?

The Census postal area that includes Fairfield has 12,468 housing units and 36,716 residents. Detached houses number 10,041, 80.5%, and attached houses 772, 6.2%. Buildings of two to four units hold 1,086, 8.7%, buildings of five or more units hold 530, 4.3%, and there are 39 mobile homes and boats or vans. It is a town of houses, which is why the median is a comparison of like with like more often here than in Chevy Chase or Mar Vista. The median year built is 1961, and homes built before 1980 number 9,021, 72.4%. The 1950s are the largest decade, with 2,460 homes, 19.7%, and homes built since 2010 number 780, 6.3%.

Owners dominate. Of 11,940 occupied homes, 10,079 are owned, 84.4%, and 1,861 are rented, 15.6%. Among owners, 4,863 moved in since 2010, 48.2%, 1,847 moved in during the 2000s, 18.3%, and 3,369 moved in before 2000, 33.4%, and 1,795 owners, 17.8%, have been in the same home since 1989 or earlier. Among renters, 635 moved in since 2020, 34.1%, and 1,695 since 2010, 91.1%. A third of owners have held their homes since before 2000, which means a large part of the town's value sits in homes that have not traded in a generation.

Vacancy is low. The Census counts 528 vacant homes, 4.2% of all units. Of them, 248 are for rent, 47.0%, 35 rented but not yet occupied, 16 for sale, 3.0%, 29 sold but not yet occupied, 77 seasonal or occasional, 14.6%, and 123 other vacant, 23.3%. The 16 homes vacant and for sale are 0.1% of the stock, computed here. The figures are five-year averages and do not measure how many homes are on the market on any one day, but they show how little slack the town has, which fits the brokerage report's picture of thin supply.

The Census median owner value is $869,100, with a margin of error of $37,367, 4.3% of the value. It is owners' own estimate over five years and not a sale price. It is 87.6% of the Zillow value of $991,582 and 86.9% of the tracker's median of $999,999, and 64.0% of the Realtor.com sold median of $1,358,000, all computed here. The median household income is $193,300, so the tracker median is 5.2 times the median income and the Zillow value is 5.1 times, a rough ratio of two medians. Readers comparing markets can also read the Backcountry South brief and the New Canaan brief.

Source: Census Reporter, American Community Survey 2020-2024 five-year estimates, tables B25024, B25003, B25038, B25004, B25034, B25077, B25064 and B19013. Percentages and ratios are this brief's arithmetic.

What should an owner ask, and what does a private sale change?

The first question is which Fairfield the home is in. The beach, Greenfield Hill, Sasco Hill, Southport and the streets near the universities do not share a median, a buyer or a clock, according to the pages. A seller should ask for closed sales on the same kind of street, from the last six months, with the days to contract and the gap between the first ask and the final price. The June article's examples show that two homes in the same postal area can close 10% below list and 6% above in one season.

The second question is what a number measures. Ask whether it is the town or the postal area, a median or an average, a listing price or a sold price, and what window it covers. The pages above differ on every one of those points, and a seller who reads the $1,749,000 listing median as a sale price will overshoot by 28.8% against the sold median of $1,358,000, or by 75% against the tracker's $999,999.

The third question is the commission, and the arithmetic is simple. Each 1% of $999,999 is $10,000. At 3% the figure is $30,000 and at 5% it is $50,000. At $1,175,000, each 1% is $11,750, 3% is $35,250 and 5% is $58,750. At $1,358,000, each 1% is $13,580, 3% is $40,740 and 5% is $67,900. These illustrate the size of each percentage point and are not quotes of any rate a seller would be charged. No page in this brief names a Fairfield commission rate, and the medians are not the price of any one home.

The fourth question is exposure. In a town where a third of owners have been in their homes since before 2000, a listing is news, and a public sale means showings, a price history and neighbors watching the days on market. A private sale has no showings and no neighbors talking about a sale.

The benefits are plain. Maison Off-Market buys luxury homes and estates directly from their owners and speaks only to sellers. A private sale has no showings. It allows closing dates that give a seller time to find a new home. It has no commission costs and no closing costs, and it avoids inspection repairs, which matters for a postal area where 72.4% of homes predate 1980, though the Census says nothing about the condition of any one house. The company does not say that a private sale always beats a public listing, and in a town where one page shows $999,999 and another $1,358,000, an owner is right to ask what each route yields. If you would like a private, no-obligation offer for a Fairfield home, call 401-219-4207 or use the contact form on this site.

Methodology and limitations

The sold-price tracker is a commercial page that counts only the closings it can date. The Realtor.com page is labeled September 2026 and gives a listing change that differs from a commercial page quoting the same data in August. The Redfin page is for the postal area and ends in April. The brokerage report contradicts itself on sale-to-list ratio and days on market and cites a September 2026 source for an April period. The Zillow town page and the May data page give different values with similar growth claims. The June article gives submarket figures from one date and a handful of recent sales. The commercial market page markets reduced-commission selling, and its claims about fees were not used. The Census figures are five-year estimates for a postal area. Percent changes were taken as printed, and ratios and sums are this brief's arithmetic.

Conclusion

The Fairfield record shows sold medians from $999,999 to $1,358,000, a listing median near $1.7 million, supply counts from 83 to 166 homes, clocks from 13 to 48 days and a postal area where 80.5% of homes are detached and 84.4% of occupied homes are owned. The pages differ because they cover different windows and submarkets, and the useful figure for an owner is the one for the same kind of street.