Local Voices
Community Update
2014
FIRST QUARTER RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE SALES REPORT
Westchester,
Putnam, Rockland and Orange Counties, New York
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The
region’s surge in real estate sales since early 2013 continued stronger still
in the first quarter of 2014. Realtors participating
in the Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Service, Inc. reported a grand total of
2,552 closed residential transactions in the MLS’s core four-county service
territory in January through March, an increase of 10.8% over the 2,304
closings in the same period last year. The increase from 2012 to 2013 was 8.8%,
and compared to the recessionary performance of only 1,582 closings in 2009,
the 2014 volume was 61.3% higher.
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The first
quarter closings resulted largely from properties that were listed and marketed
during the late autumn and winter months of 2013. Westchester, which accounts for about 60% of
the region’s real estate sales, led the way with a powerful 19.4% sales
increase in its single family house sector, and 21.0% in its cooperative unit sector. Westchester condominium sales did not follow suit,
however, declining by 15.2% from last year.
The
next highest year to year increases in residential sales were posted by
Putnam (11.9%), Rockland (7.7%) and
Orange (4.2%). In all three counties the
sales gains were largely in the single family house sector. In contrast - and as in Westchester - condominium
sales were lower by about 15% in Rockland and Orange, and were unchanged in
Putnam (though Putnam condo sales usually are few in number, e.g.,19 as per
this report).
The
robust sales levels kept the pressure on to maintain the region’s inventory
which, at 10,014 listed properties2 at the end of the quarter, was 3.9%
lower than last year at this time. In
the single family house sector, Orange posted the largest decrease (6.3%),
followed by Westchester (3.2%), Putnam (2.6%), and Rockland (0.7%).
In a
high sales rate and tight inventory environment, prices could be expected to
increase- and they did. The first
quarter median1 sale price of a single family house in Westchester
was $600,000, an increase of $85,000 or 16.5% over last year’s median. Not all of the increase derived from
competitive market pressure, however.
Some reflected the addition of more high end properties to the real
estate market basket. Such properties (defined in this report as single family
houses selling for $1,000,000 or more) constituted 23% of house sales in the
first quarter of 2014, a level that was more characteristic of pre-recession
markets. Last year’s first quarter ratio of high end properties was just 16%.
Rockland
and Putnam exhibited the same upward price movement as Westchester, just at lower
price levels. In Rockland, the $380,000
median sale price of a single family house was 6.1% higher than last year’s
$358,000. In Putnam the increase was
11.0%, taking the median price to $318,000.
But Orange closed the quarter with further slippage in its median price
for single family houses, to $219,000, down 3.1% from 2013. As previously
reported by this MLS, Orange County continues to deal with a higher proportion
of stressed properties in its sales mix, which brings the averages down. However, one current positive indicator for
Orange is that its first quarter mean1 sale price - $250,842- was 5.4%
more than last year’s, suggesting that some more highly priced properties
entered the sales mix there.
Overall,
the lower Hudson region’s real estate market appears to be shedding the last of
any remaining baggage from the recession that bottomed sales and prices in
2009. With some few exceptions there is now
strong pent-up demand by buyers in most parts of the region, in all price
ranges, and among all residential property types.
The
larger economy is a supporting factor in our now-recovered market. Mortgage interest rates are still very
affordable at around 4.5% for a thirty year conventional loan. Unemployment
throughout the region is down by one to two percentage points from a year
ago. And the equity markets including
the Dow Jones have been setting new
records. Real estate can thrive in that environment and based on this first
quarter performance the lower Hudson market is poised to do so.
Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Service,
Inc.
The Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Service, Inc. (HGMLS)
is a subsidiary of the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors, Inc. (HGAR). The
MLS’s principal service territory consists of Westchester, Putnam, Rockland and
Orange Counties. It also provides services to Realtors operating in Bronx,
Dutchess, Sullivan and Ulster Counties.
The reported transactions do not include all real estate sales in the
area or all sales assisted by the participating offices but they are fairly
reflective of general market conditions.
HGMLS does not provide data on sub-county geographic areas. Persons
desiring sub-county data are invited to contact participating real estate
offices in the desired areas. Any text
or data from this report may be reprinted with attribution to Hudson Gateway
Multiple Listing Service, Inc. as the source. Prior reports dating back to 1981
are available on the Realtor Association’s website, www.hgar.com; click on Market Statistics. A membership directory searchable by
municipality is also available on that site.
1 The median sale
price is the mid-point of all reported sales, i.e., half of the properties sold
for more than the median price and half for less. The median is relatively unaffected by
unusually low or high sale prices. The
mean sale price is the arithmetic average, i.e., the sum of all sales prices
divided by the number of sales. The mean does reflect the influence of sales at
unusually low or high prices.
2
Gross
four-county inventory of 10,320 units adjusted downwards by 306 previously not
counted multi-family units in Putnam, Rockland and Orange, for consistency of
comparisons with prior quarters.
Changes to the Report
With
this report the Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Service adds new features to
its quarterly market presentation and may add more as the year progresses. In
2012 and 2013 the MLS reports were compiled from two different
databases, one serving Westchester and Ptnam and one serving Rockland and
Orange. In March of 2014, those
databases were merged and are now supported by a new computer system serving
all four counties uniformly. The new
system and database has facilitated the following changes:
1) Condominiums
and cooperatives are tracked as separate property types in all four core
counties served by HGMLS. Westchester had always done this but Putnam, Rockland
and Orange had compiled condominiums and cooperatives as one single property
type, largely because there are so few co-ops in those counties. Counting
co-ops separately may result in small numbers that sometimes generate large
swings in percentage calculations, but that minor issue will be countered by improved
accuracy in the important condominium sector in the region, and by uniformity
of content across all four counties.
2)
The Westchester section of the market report has long included 2-4 family
houses, but the other three counties have not.
Starting with this report, 2-4 family house sales and price data will be
presented for all four counties retroactively to 2011. However, end-of-quarter inventory is not
available retroactively to 2011 in Putnam, Rockland and Orange, thus this particular
data series starts cold with this 2014 first quarter report.
For
the future, HGMLS will be considering whether to add new data to its report
such as days on market or pending sales.
# # #
Four
tables follow.
End of Report, First Quarter 2014
Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Service, Inc.