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“Smooth Transition to Normal” for Westchester County Real Estate May 18, 2006

Because I live in NYC area, I watch the market in Manhattan, Brooklyn, North NJ, Bronx, Queens, LI, and Westchester County. I received a market report from a broker of mine in Westchester County and thought I’d share with you.

The latest statistics from the Board of Realtors in Westchester County in New York State show that real estate sales reported in the first quarter of 2006 were 9% fewer than the number reported a year ago and announced that “the boom is over, and our area has made a relatively gentle descent to a more sustainable level of sales volume and prices increases.” Single-family house sales in Westchester were down by 14% from a year ago.

Inventory has been steadily increasing as well:

That build-up accelerated in 2006 with 38% more units on the market at the end of the quarter than in 2005. Putnam County’s stock increased by 23%.

The number of available Westchester condominiums increased by a hefty 81% to 860 units. As has been noted in previous reports, the spate of new condominium construction in White Plains and elsewhere in Westchester has added new and resale units to inventory in this market sector.

…
Another indicator of a return to a “normal” market is that first-quarter average prices increased by less than double-digit percentages on an annual basis, confirming the trend to price moderation of the past several quarters. The median sale price of a Westchester single family house increased by 5.7% from $615,000 last year to $650,000 in this first quarter of 2006. In Putnam County the $375,000 median sale price was 8.5% below last year’s median.

The report mentions that although the Westchester county housing market is not immune to potentially serious slowdown of the national economy, the “local eight-year run has been founded on classic principles of supply and demand, not on speculative building or speculative investment by buyers, we are experiencing a relatively smooth transition to a slower, even “normal” real estate market.”

Source:
Westchester MLS Report (pdf)
(home image courtesy of Southeby’s International Realty. Thanks!)

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