Has Greenwich Got Its Groove Back?

It's home to hedge funders, CEOs, and boldface bigwigs galore. But until Wall Street bonuses were back, real estate just wasn't the same in gilded Greenwich, Conn.

But has the housing market in the jewel of Connecticut's Gold Coast really recovered as dramatically as has been recently reported?

Greenwich, an old-money enclave 40 minutes northeast of New York City, has a median household income of $126,549. But it's the real estate deals in the town of 60,000 that produce the kind of numbers that really get noticed. Signs in the real estate agency storefronts on Greenwich Avenue recently touted home sales in the $5 million range. Indeed, Some 33 houses sold in Greenwich this past January, significantly more than the paltry seven that changed hands in January 2009.

Of course, the main reason the good times are back is that 2009 was as bad as they come.