In Greenwich, there were 158 total home sales in the four months ended April 30, up 7 percent from the same time a year earlier, according to data compiled by John Cooke of Prudential Connecticut Realty. The median price of the properties that changed hands in that period increased 39 percent to $1.95 million. Sales of houses valued at $2 million to $3 million jumped 50 percent to 30 transactions.

'Move Up' Market

Thirty more deals in the $2 million to $3 million range were pending at end of April, Pruner's data show, pushing inventory of those homes down to 9.4 months of supply. Home sales in that category, considered Greenwich's "move up" market, fell the most in almost three decades in 2009, according to Shore & Country Properties in Riverside, Connecticut.

Buyers who shopped for homes above $5 million two years ago have shifted their search to lower price points, said Julianne Ward, a broker with Prudential Connecticut Realty. "Everyone's toned down their price range by at least a couple of million," she said.

Owners of the most-expensive homes have the financial wherewithal to stick to their asking price, according to Ward, though she said they're taking a risk.

"Buyers won't look at houses that are overpriced," Ward said. "They have too much to choose from. The houses on the high end, they're down 30 to 40 percent. Some of them have more to go."

630 Days

A 10,000-square-foot gated home on the Long Island Sound waterfront sold in February for $25 million, a discount of almost 30 percent, after 630 days on the market. The Field Point Circle property, with five bedrooms, seven fireplaces and a "walled water garden" with walkways made of "hand-cut bluestone slabs," was originally priced at $35 million, according to the Greenwich Multiple Listing Service.

Still for sale is a 16,900-square-foot colonial with six bedrooms and eight full bathrooms, listed at $12.95 million. The property has been on the market about 100 days.

"The only thing that's keeping any of these houses not sold is price," said Joseph Barbieri, a broker with Sotheby's International Realty in Greenwich, whose listings include four homes priced at $10 million or more.