Less Liquidity

The smaller payouts reflect changes adopted by the industry after the credit crisis, in response to criticism that soaring incentives pushed traders to disregard risk. About 56 percent of financial firms incorporated risk management into performance measures for top executives by the end of 2010, and 37 percent have also done so for lower-level staff, according to a February study by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd.

"Pay for performance and incorporating risk measures is making its way through more and more of the ranks of Wall Street, and that is going to have an impact because people have less liquidity at bonus time than they used to," said Constance Melrose, managing director of eFinancialCareers North America, a network of websites for finance industry professionals.

A smaller cash component of bonuses may translate to fewer high-dollar property sales in Greenwich, where the median household income was about $122,000 in 2009, more than twice the national average, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The town is home to about 90 hedge funds, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

'More Caution'

"People just aren't stepping up as quickly as they did in the older days," said Robin Kencel, a broker at Greenwich Fine Properties, whose listings include a 19-room "English manor estate." The 11,800-square foot (1,100-square-meter) Tudor- style home, known as Nor Tor, originally listed for $15.75 million and was reduced three weeks ago to $14.75 million.

"There's just a little bit more caution and buyers seem to be taking a bit more time in committing to a purchase," Kencel said.

Homes listed for sale above $10 million have spent a median of 204 days on the market, according to Pruner. Of the homes in that category, 29 percent have languished for more than a year. Properties in the $2 million to $3 million range, by comparison, were on the market for a median of 72 days and 12 percent have gone a year or more without a buyer.

$1 Million-Plus

Nationwide, the supply of luxury homes is shrinking, according to the National Association of Realtors. The inventory of unsold houses priced at $1 million or more -- the highest category the group tracks -- declined to 17.8 months in April from 22.9 months a year earlier, said Walter Molony, a spokesman for the Realtors. For all single-family, previously owned homes, the supply was 8.5 months. Properties that sold for at least $1 million made up 1.8 percent of existing-home transactions in April, when the median sales price was $163,700.