The median price of a single-family house in Westchester County fell to its lowest level in 10 years in this year”™s first quarter, when only four more home purchases were closed than in the same quarter one year ago.
The first-quarter home sales were reported by Empire Access Multiple Listing Service members in Westchester and Putnam counties. The residential market was significantly slower in Putnam County, where sales of single-family houses were down more than 19 percent and their median sale price dropped nearly 21 percent from a year ago.
In Westchester, the median sale price of a single-family house was $505,500, an 8.5 percent drop from the first quarter of 2011. It was the lowest median price for a quarter since 2002, when Westchester”™s median or mid-point price first surpassed the $500,000 level.
Houses selling for $1 million or more made up 16 percent of total first-quarter house sales in Westchester, according to the listing service, a subsidiary of the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors Inc. in White Plains.
In a separate Westchester-Putnam quarterly market report, Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate said Westchester”™s luxury market — the upper 10 percent of all one-family house sales ”“ saw a median sales price of $2,137,500, a 12.2 percent increase from the first quarter of 2011. Sale prices in the top one-tenth of all house closings started at $1,385,000.
The median price of a condominium in the county was $312,500 in the first quarter, according to Empire Access, down 3.8 percent from a year ago. The median price of cooperatives was $144,500, down 12.4 percent from a year ago.
Quarterly sales volume rose in the county for houses and condos, with 730 house closings, up 10 from the first quarter a year ago, and 188 condo sales, nine more than a year ago.
Housing inventory listed in the market at the end of March declined slightly from the first quarter of 2011, with 6,649 listings of single-family homes, condos, co-ops and two- to four-family houses. The 3,850 one-family homes listed amounted to a 3.1 percent increase from a year ago.
Condominium units were relatively scarce in Westchester at the start of the spring season, with 765 units listed for sale, down 95 units or 11 percent from a year ago.
Aided by unseasonably mild weather, Realtors this year have seen steeped-up market activity that could generate more closings in the second quarter. Fair weather, though, is not the only element driving house showings this spring.
Empire Access analysts said favorable factors include the “exceptionally low” house prices in both Westchester and Putnam. Co-op units, selling at a median of about $145,000, are especially affordable for first-time buyers. And average mortgage interest rates are still at record low levels. The current rate on a 30-year conventional mortgage is about 4.3 percent and has been less than 5 percent since mid-2011.
Analysts at the Realtors association said property foreclosures in Westchester have not depressed the local real estate market. Of approximately 125 foreclosure filings per month in the county, most are disposed of through short sales by homeowners before they end up as lender-owned properties in foreclosure sales.
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