So What’s Going on in the Westchester Real Estate Market?: The Rand Quarterly Market Report for 2015Q2

This week, Better Homes and Gardens Rand Realty is releasing its Quarterly Market Report for all the counties it services: Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Orange, and Dutchess Counties in New York; and Bergen, Passaic, and Morris Counties in New Jersey. Below is an excerpt from the report, but you can get the full Report here.

The Westchester real estate market continued to strengthen in the second quarter of 2015, with sales up sharply and inventories tightening. Although pricing was more mixed, we expect that buyer demand will continue to increase and eventually drive meaningful appreciation.

Sales. Single-family sales surged almost 15% above last year’s second quarter, the third straight quarter with year-on-year transactional growth. The 5,459 rolling year closings represented the second-highest 12-month total since mid-2006, at the height of the seller’s market. Similarly, the 7.3 average months of inventory for the prior rolling year was the tightest showing since 2006.

Prices. Prices were a little mixed, particularly in light of the rising activity and tightening inventory, with the average down 1.5%, the median up 0.5%, and the price-per-square-foot up 3.8%. For the rolling year, though, we’re seeing slight price appreciation across the board

Negotiability. The days-on-market and listing retention indicators suggested a tightening market and some negotiating leverage for sellers, with homes selling a little more quickly and for slightly closer to the asking price.

Condos & Coops. The condo and coop markets also flourished, with coop sales up 7.1% and condo sales up 14.2% from last year. Prices were mixed, with the lower-priced coop market seeing some softening and the moderately-priced condo market showing some significant appreciation.

Going forward, we expect that the Westchester market will continue to heat up, with activity rising again in the seasonally strong third quarter. With inventories tightening, interest rates near historic lows, and a generally improving economy, we believe that these increases in sales activity will start to push prices up more significantly by the end of the year.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD YOUR COPY OF THE COMPLETE REPORT

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