Houlihan Lawrence finds 2021 record-breaking year for real estate despite Q4 declines
“2021 continued to be a record-breaking year in real estate, not just in the markets we serve but also nationally,” Liz Nunan, president and CEO of Houlihan Lawrence, said in the brokerage”™s newly released fourth-quarter report on lower Hudson Valley real estate.
Home sales in Westchester were up 10.4% for 2021, while Putnam and Dutchess counties reported gains of 8% and 2.7%, respectively. Nearly every submarket in Westchester posted double-digit sales gains, according to the report.
“While the first half of 2021 varied in specific metrics to the second half, two factors remained constant. The inventory was at an all-time low, and buyer demand was exceptionally strong,” Nunan said. “As the year progressed, the sales outpaced inventory replacement, and this further restriction led to a decline in pending sales and, eventually, closed sales.”
In the fourth quarter, the number of listings declined 42% in Westchester County year over year. In Putnam County, that number was down 34%, and in Dutchess County listings were down 44%.
“2022 will likely not see the record-breaking number of sales seen in 2021. But until the supply and demand fall into balance, the market will still be charged with buyers, and sellers will continue to prosper,” Nunan said.
In the fourth quarter, 1,669 single-family homes sold in Westchester, compared with 2,228 in the first quarter of 2020, a drop of 25.1%. The median sale price was $725,000, a 1% drop from $732,000 in the fourth quarter of 2020.
For all of 2021, 7,541 single-family homes changed hands in Westchester, compared with 6,649 in 2020, a 10.4% gain. The median sale price for the year went up to $780,000 from $735,000 in 2020, a 6.1% gain.
The number of condominiums sold in Westchester went up by 31.8% from 1,242 in 2020 to 1,637 in 2021. The median sale price also was up at $425, 000 in 2021 compared with $403,000 in 2020, a 5.5% increase.
In the fourth quarter, condo sales dropped 4.3% from 470 in the fourth quarter of 2020 to 450 in 2021’s fourth quarter. The median sale price increased 4.9% from $410,000 in Q4 of 2020 to $430,000 in Q4 of 2021.
Co-op sales in Westchester were up by 35.3% from 1,562 units sold in 2020 to 2,114 in 2021. The median sale price was $194,100, up 6.1% from 2020”™s $183,000.
For the fourth quarter of 2021, co-op sales stood at 547 units, a 10.3% increase from the 496 units that changed hands in the fourth quarter of 2020. The median sale price inched up 2.9% from $185,000 in Q4 of 2020 to $190,400 in Q4 of 2021.
In Putnam, there were 1,342 single-family homes sold in 2021 compared with 1,241 in 2020. The median sale price for the year was $440,000, up 16% from 2020”™s $379,999. It also was up 16% for the fourth quarter of 2021 compared with the fourth quarter of 2020, reaching $455,750 from $394,250.
There were 199 condos sold in Putnam during the year, compared with 175 sold in 2020, a 15% increase. The median sale price was up 12.7% at $290,000 compared with 2020”™s $257,250. For the fourth quarter of 2021, 43 units were sold, a drop of 28.3% from the 60 units sold in the fourth quarter of 2020. However, the median sale price went up 12.1% from $280,950 in Q4 of 2020 to $315,000 in Q4 of 2021.
In Dutchess County, 2,759 single-family homes were sold in 2021 compared with 2,686 in 2020. In the fourth quarter of 2021, 665 single-family homes sold compared with 997 in 2020”™s fourth quarter, a drop of 33.3%. The median sale price rose 14.7% from $339,900 in 2020 to $390,000 in 2021. For the fourth quarter of 2021, the median sale price was up 7.3% to $396,000 from $369,000 in the same period in 2020.
There were 628 condominiums sold in 2021 in Dutchess, up 38% from the 455 that sold in 2020. There were 152 sold in Q4 of 2021 compared with 159 in Q4 of 2020, a 4.4% drop. The median condo sale price was $231,056 for Q4 of 2021, down 7.6% from $250,000 in the fourth quarter of 2020. For the year, the median sale price was $235,000, a 5.4% increase from 2020”™s $225,000.