Residential real estate activity in Westchester, Putnam, Rockland and Orange counties was so good in the third quarter of 2021 that the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors said it ”surpassed historically high third quarter sales figures of 2020.”
HGAR has released its report on third quarter real estate activity using data from OneKey Multiple Listing Service, which was formed by the merger of Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Service and Multiple Listing Service of Long Island.
Slightly behind the rest of the area was Sullivan County, where sales of single-family properties slipped somewhat for the third quarter, down 24% from where they had been in the third quarter of last year. For the year, however, sales were up by 22.7%, with 978 single-family homes being sold compared with 797 for the first three quarters of 2020. The median sale price for a single-family home in Sullivan rose 25.8%, hitting $250,250.
While $250,250 may be considered good for Sullivan, it was less than a third of the median sale price for single-family houses in Westchester, which rose by 5.6% to $855,000 according to HGAR”™s statistics. HGAR showed there were 2,377 single-family sales in Westchester during the third quarter.
There were 488 condominium sales, up 44.4% from the third quarter last year. Co-op sales jumped 67.4% to 569 from 340 units sold in last year”™s third quarter.
In Putnam County, the number of single-family houses went up 3.4% to 364 units from the third quarter of 2020”™s 352 units. The median sale price increased by 13.3%, to $466,500 from $411,750.
In Rockland County sales increased by 5.6% to 715 units from 677 units in the third quarter of 2020. The median sale price increased 13.5% to $579,000 from $510,000 in 2020.
Multifamily houses were an area of strength throughout most of the lower Hudson Valley, with the number of sales up 300% from last year”™s third quarter in Putnam County, 107% in Orange, 115.4% in Rockland and 12.5% in Sullivan.
In Westchester, multifamily family homes in the two- to four-family category saw a 79.2% increase in the number of units sold, with 181 changing hands in the third quarter of 2021.
“With the exception of the second quarter of 2020, the real estate market has been an anomaly outperforming the economy,” HGAR said. “Sales and prices have enjoyed a trajectory which is likely unsustainable going forward.”
HGAR included an observation that “the economy of the Hudson Valley continues to improve and grow more vibrant, which bodes well for real estate. It is likely that price increases will moderate and additional product will come on the market, which will sustain a strong market in the near term.”
HGAR found that the third quarter ended with the inventory of available single-family homes in Westchester being down by 28.4% compared with the third quarter of 2020. Only 1,367 houses were listed for sale compared with 2,068 a year ago.
