Two new reports on residential real estate activity show strength in Lower Hudson Valley markets for 2020 with dramatic upsurges during the fourth quarter of the year.
The separate reports come from brokerage Houlihan Lawrence and the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors.
Houlihan Lawrence found that in 2020, the real estate markets in Westchester, Putnam, and Dutchess counties experienced surges in sales during the Covid-19 epidemic, with the volume of overall unit sales as well as median sale prices rising.
According to Elizabeth Nunan, president and CEO of Houlihan Lawrence, “Every price point was active, including the luxury market that lagged in some locations during previous years. Year over year, Westchester County inventory is down 27% while pending sales are up 46%. In lower Westchester, sales remain strong as buyers anticipate returning to commuting to New York City and the ease offered by these communities. Many buyers anticipate continuing the work from home model and have ventured farther north.”
Nunan pointed out that in northern Westchester, home sales soared 40% and inventory declined 40%. Many properties were bought as second homes to be used as a refuge, while the number of primary home purchases rose substantially. The pandemic led to many businesses continuing to operate with remote employees, demonstrating that commuting is less vital than thought.
Overall in Westchester, home sales were up 13.6% with the median sale price up 12.4%. Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, Pelham and Yonkers saw a 10% increase in the number of homes sold with the median sale price up 16%.
In Bronxville, Eastchester, Edgemont, Scarsdale and Tuckahoe, the number of homes sold was up 16% with the median sale price up 8%.
On the west side of the county, Ardsley, Dobbs Ferry, Hastings, Mount Pleasant, Pleasantville, Tarrytown, Briarcliff Manor, Elmsford, Irvington, Ossining and Pocantico Hills had a 13% increase in the number of homes sold with the median sale price up 7%.
Greenburgh, Valhalla and White Plains didn”™t fare as well with only a 1% increase in home sales and a median sale price increase of 2%.
Most dramatic were Bedford, Byram Hills, Chappaqua, Katonah-Lewisboro, North Salem and Somers where the number of homes sold soared 41% and the median sale price went up 14%.
In Putnam County, home sales were up 20% with the median sale price rising 7%.
Dutchess County saw a median sale price increase of just over 13% with the number of home sales increasing by 5.7%, according to the Houlihan Lawrence report.
HGAR”™s fourth-quarter report said that after experiencing strong first-quarter sales, agents who had looked forward to more of the same for the second quarter instead faced a virtual shutdown of real estate activity due to the Covid outbreak. That gave way to a desire by city dwellers to escape their high-density locations, leading to historically high single-family residential sales in the third and forth quarters.
Westchester, which HGAR classified as comprising the largest market in the region, had a year over year increase in single-family residential sales to 6,657 units as compared with 5,839 for 2019. HGAR said that one-third of those sales occurred in the fourth quarter of 2020. There were 2,232 single-family sales in the fourth quarter as compared with 1,415 sales in the fourth quarter of 2019.
HGAR noted that the median price of a single-family home in Westchester increased to $735,000, compared with $655,000 for 2019.
In Putnam, single-family sales went from 1,050 units in 2019 to 1,261 units in 2020 with a median price of $380,000, as compared with $358,000 in 2019.
Single-family sales in Rockland County increased 14.7% for the year, with 36% of sales taking place in the fourth quarter. Unit sales for the year were 2,327, as compared with 2,028 in 2019. The median sale price of $500,000 was up over the 2019 median of $455,000.
In Orange County, single-family sales increased to 3,984 units from 3,673 units in 2019, the highest number of single-family sales ever recorded for one year in Orange. The median sale price in Orange increased from $277,250 in 2019 to $330,000 .
According to HGAR, Westchester County condo sales were down by 6.8% for the year, but increased by 48% in the fourth quarter with an annual price increase to $404,500 from $385,000 in 2019.
Condo sales were strong in Putnam, up from 126 units to 173 units. Rockland County condo sales increased year over year by 7%, while prices went from $247,250 in 2019 to $265,000 in 2020.
Orange County condo sales dropped almost 11% for the year, but showed some strength in the fourth quarter increasing by 10% over the fourth quarter of 2019 to 151 units, according to the HGAR report.
