Realtors might find a glimmer of hope that Westchester”™s residential market is slowly rebounding from a two-year downturn in the second-quarter sales report released today by the Westchester-Putnam Multiple Listing Service Inc.
Realtors in the county reported 1,227 closed sales from April through June for single-family houses, condos, co-ops and multifamily dwellings. Though sales volume was down 31 percent from the second quarter of 2008, it improved from this year”™s first-quarter sales numbers, which showed a 37 percent decline from the first quarter of 2008.
Adjusted for seasonal variations in the market, Westchester”™s second-quarter sales amount to an annual sales rate of 4,720 units, up 12 percent from the previous quarter. The listing service said the second-quarter results are “the first significant break in the unrelenting decline in sales rates since the first quarter of 2007.”
The second-quarter median sale price of a single-family home in Westchester was $565,000, a 16 percent decline from the second quarter of 2008. The average house sale price was $756,982, a 15 per cent drop year to year.
The median sale price of a two- to four-family house dropped to $344,750 in the second quarter, a 27 percent decline from the second quarter of 2008. For the first time since the listing service began keeping records, the median or middle-range sale price for a multifamily dwelling fell below that of a condominium, which was $375,875.  Â
At the end of June, the inventory of residential properties listed for sale in Westchester was 7,402 units, down 7 percent from last year. The listing service said that was largely due to reluctance by many potential sellers to enter what they saw as an unpromising real estate market earlier this year.        Â
