Real Estate

What has changed in the ten years since Main Street first wrote about the Town of North Canaan? It’s still the “proud, blue collar town” we found in 2014 but updated and energized. 

Renovation on the landmarked Union Depot destroyed by arson in 2001 has finally been completed, and now it’s home to a brewery and an accordion museum. A new generation of retailers has arrived including custom kitchens, an art gallery, yoga, Hither Lane glassware, and an electric bicycle shop. There’s a fresh take on dining with a hip bar at Industry, McMuckle’s Restaurant featuring entrees like kelbasa and kimchi griddle rice, Café Gourmet Bakery with French pastries, poke bowls at the Black Berry River Café, and cappuccino at Ilse Café and Roastery. 

The long-closed Colonial Movie Theater is open for special events and screenings. Despite new faces, North Canaan retains its unusual mix of mining, industry, and agriculture with five large dairies in operation, the largest concentration in Connecticut. 

Still, as First Selectman Brian Ohler observed, “North Canaan is a drive-through town,” with basic services from car repair to plumbing supplies for the surrounding communities in New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. Ohler’s goal is to preserve North Canaan’s unique agricultural and industrial community and, at the same time, make North Canaan into a destination.

Home prices are up – but not as much as in bordering towns

The last ten years have seen a dramatic increase in home prices everywhere, especially within two hours north of New York City. (See chart of neighboring towns of Salisbury, Norfolk, and Canaan/Falls Village.) Salisbury’s median home prices have risen 231%, Canaan/Falls Village prices have more than tripled at 361% with Norfolk’s median rising 133%. 

North Canaan has a low 12-month average median price of $255,900, the least expensive. As of the end of October 2024, it had increased by only 160% from 2014’s  low base of $160,000. In the last ten years only three properties in North Canaan, including an airport sold to a crypto currency executive, have sold for over a million dollars compared to 330+ in Salisbury,

Why is North Canaan so affordable?

Compared to Salisbury, North Canaan has never been a vacation or second home/country house destination with lake properties. It is just beyond the two-hour drive target for weekenders, as is Norfolk which also has lower median home prices. Ohler estimates that 95% of residents in North Canaan are full-time residents, in contrast to 40% to 50% of Salisbury. 

Historically North Canaan was developed as an iron ore, railroad, and mining/manufacturing center, which affected the quality of the housing stock. The Beckley iron blast furnace built in 1847 still stands on the banks of the Black Berry River as Connecticut’s only industrial monument. As the iron industry faded, limestone mining and processing provided jobs that continue today. In the twentieth century, light manufacturing added more jobs with operations including Becton Dickinson. Smoke billows from the limestone processing plant behind the Stop & Shop, and a freight train runs through the center of the hamlet daily. 

Children who were born in North Canaan can still live and work in the town where they grew up. Multi-generational family businesses of all kinds from hardware, plumbing, heating, electrical, and contracting still thrive today.

Property taxes are another limiting factor on the price of property in North Canaan. North Canaan’s actual mill rate is 24, according to CT Data. The value of all North Canaan’s taxable properties combined is only $454 million compared to $1.9 billion for Salisbury. Small in size, North Canaan has the highest population density among its neighbors, 166 per square mile as opposed to 73 in Salisbury, 35 in Falls Village, and 41 in Norfolk. Combining its lower median age of 40, ten years younger than its neighbors, low household income and high poverty rate of 25%, North Canaan spends a higher proportion of its town’s budget on education because it has more school-age children and sends so many students to Housatonic High School at a taxpayer cost of approximately $42,000 per year per student. As a result, North Canaan has only a $2.4 million dollar budget to provide services to its full-time population while Salisbury has $5.1 million.

Should you buy in North Canaan now?

At the beginning of December there were 11 single-family homes for sale in North Canaan, more than twice as many as in Norfolk or Falls Village and less than half those in Salisbury. None of these are houses with acreage, all are below $500,000 and the median price is $348,000 – much higher than the average for the last 12 months of $255,900. At the same time, median prices are rising. 

The first new home development in decades may move prices higher. River Woods on Honey Hill on the Housatonic River is a luxury-house development currently under review by the town with 20 lots for higher-end homes. 

Another sign of demand in North Canaan is an off-market sale by an eager buyer for an almost completed house at 36 Old Turnpike North for $950,000 – the most expensive sale since 2021. “North Canaan is a unique town with deep community ties, and while the high tax rate and industrial aspects like the minerals plant may play a role in buyer decisions, the area is evolving,” according to Elyse Harney Morris of Elyse Harney Real Estate. “Buyers see the potential as a more affordable option than neighboring towns, particularly for those seeking a close-knit, authentic community.”   

North Canaan also has new leadership with the election of Brian Ohler as First Selectman. Ohler’s family, like many families in North Canaan, has been there for generations, and he regards it as an honor to live there. Ohler has instituted “Make It Happen Mondays” when he is available from 5am to meet with residents along with representatives from all the town departments that affect building, who are in their offices at 8am – planning and zoning, the fire department, and the building department – to facilitate construction.

The combination of strong demand, rising prices, high-end housing development, exciting businesses, and forward-thinking leadership suggest that positive change is taking hold in North Canaan. Wendy Eichman, a broker with Raynard & Pierce Realty, who has lived in North Canaan since the age of four, was the listing agent on four of the twelve homes sold in North Canaan in the last year. “There’s strong demand for houses in North Canaan and low inventory,” observed Eichman, “Prices are moving up.” •