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There were 925 sales of single-family houses in Westchester in the first quarter of 2014, according to the report, compared with 775 in the same quarter in 2013. The median sale price was $600,000, compared with $515,000 in the same time period in 2013. The sale price is almost $95,000 more than the median sale price for the first quarter in 2012.
“I think we are entering a period of stability,’’ said Phil Faranda, president of the Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Service and owner and principal broker of J. Philip Real Estate in Briarciff Manor. “There are reasons for optimism for people looking to sell a property.”
Westchester co-op sales grew 21 percent for the quarter compared wuth last year, while prices rose 0.7 percent. Condominium sales fell sharply, however. There were 178 sales of condo units in Westchester in the first quarter, a 15.2 percent decline from 2013. Prices on condominiums rose 7 percent to $335,500. Read the complete report on the attached PDF.
The Hudson Gateway Report also includes data from transactions in Putnam, Rockland and Orange Counties in New York. Sales rose 10.8 percent for the four counties. Year-to-year home prices in Putnam County rose 11.9 percent, followed by Rockland (7.7 percent) and Orange (4.2)
A sharp rise in the sale of high-end homes helped fuel the price increase. Homes selling for $1 million or more constituted 23 percent of sales in the four counties in the Hudson Gateway report. Last year, the ratio of high-end properties in first quarter sales was just 16 percent.
“It tells me that people are selling their starter homes,’’ Faranda said. “It’s a progression of 18 months of health in the wake of five years of pent-up demand.”
The report also found dwindling inventory as more buyers jumped into home ownership. There were 3.9 percent few homes listed for sale at the end of the quarter than in 2013, including a 3.2 percent decline in Westchester.
“It’s going to put upward pressure on prices,’’ Faranda said. “In the absence of competition, it will give sellers a lot more leverage.”
Faranda said the current real estate climate is “entering a period of stability, but not irrational exuberance. I’m really good with boring and stable. Exuberant and volatile is not my style. Boring and stable is good.”
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