Lots of Sales, Stagnant Prices: Hudson Realtor Association's 3rd Quarter Report

Real estate sales slowed in the third quarter of 2016 in the lower Hudson Valley, according to the report released by the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors on Tuesday, and prices continued stagnant.

The region’s real estate market continued its high-volume roll through the third quarter of this year although at a slower pace than for the first two quarters of the year, HGAR officials said. Orange was the winner there, with total sales up by 19 percent.

Realtors participating in the Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Service, Inc. (a subsidiary of the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors) reported a total of 5,644 closed residential transactions in the MLS’s four-county service territory.

That's a 7 percent increase over last year’s third quarter sales, but it's nothing near the surge of 23 percent in the second quarter.

The current market is looking a lot like 2015 with its high sales rates, average sales prices that vary by county but that generally show only small changes up or down from last year, and a continuing drawdown of inventory which so far has not resulted in either competitive price increases or market contraction, HGAR officials said in their report.

Prices rose slightly in Orange, Putnam and Rockland counties. However, prices declined slightly in Westchester for single family homes and co-ops.

For example, in Westchester, the median sale price of a single family house was $668,500 – down $8,000 or 1.2 percent from last year. Cooperative prices dipped more, by 3.4 percent to $157,000, while condo prices remained almost steady, dropping by 0.3 percent to $372,000.

But while the price changes are small, the year-to-year drop in inventory is dramatic.

There were 11,734 residential listings posted with the MLS at the close of the third quarter of 2015. One year later that number had decreased by 20 percent to 9,387 properties.

In Orange County, after five years of slowly downward-drifting house prices in a very narrow price range, the median sale price for a house appears to be increasing in small but steady increments. The third quarter median reached $244,500 or 2.2 percent more than last year.

Putnam’s total sales of 378 properties were up by 17%; its end of quarter inventory was down a whopping 29%. The median sale price of a Putnam single family house was $340,000, an increase of 1.5% from last year.

Rockland posted 862 sales for a gain of 16 percent from last year; end of quarter inventory was down by 18 percent. The median sale price of a Rockland house was $429,000, up by 1 percent from last year.

CHARTS/ HGAR