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Westchester County experienced a slight increase in home sales by just 1.7% in February, along with an almost 14% increase in home prices, with a median of $831,250.
WHITE PLAINS—While February’s single-family home sales were down in every county except Westchester and Orange, home prices continued to escalate throughout the New York City Metropolitan region with Westchester, Rockland and Sullivan counties experiencing price hikes of more than 14% from last February. The report released on March 21 by the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors (HGAR), based on data supplied by OneKey MLS, also indicates inventory levels declined in all regions, with the Bronx, Orange and Putnam counties seeing the highest drops by over 30%.
Sales of condominiums fared much better, with the Bronx and Westchester experiencing a more than 40% growth rate over this time last year. Co-op sales, however, were down across the region, with Westchester and Rockland facing declines of more than 10%.
February pending sales were up 8.4 % overall for the entire MLS region, with Westchester leading the way at 18.1%.
“We continue to see high interest rates and low inventory impact single-family home sales in the Hudson Valley and New York City market areas but expect strong pending sales to result in rising sales in future months," said HGAR CEO Lynda Fernandez. “However, Increased condo sales in February do reflect strong demand and more options for buyers.”
HGAR President Carmen Bauman added that the low housing inventory could represent potential home sellers’ apprehension about the interest rates. “I think a lot of people may still be waiting to see how low the rates will go before deciding to commit to place their homes on the market,” she said.
In the Bronx, February single-family home sales fell by almost 38%, while prices rose 2.6 % to a median sales price of $600,000. Meanwhile, condo sales jumped by 40% over this time last year, with a median price of $272,000 – just 0.7% higher than February of 2023. Co-op sales decreased by 4.3%, while the median sale price plunged by 23.5% to $175,848.
New listings for single-family homes saw a decline of 11.5%, but new listings for condos rose by 38%, and co-ops, just 1%. Overall inventory for all three housing types plummeted, with single-family homes seeing the largest drop at 35.7%, followed by condos at 31.3% and co-ops by almost 20%. Pending sales in the Bronx were down by 26.7% in February.
Westchester County experienced a slight increase in home sales by just 1.7% in February, along with an almost 14% increase in home prices, with a median of $831,250. Sales of condos skyrocketed by over 48%, with the median sales price holding at $411,000, an 8.1% drop from last February. Co-op sales saw a 10.2% decline, but a 6.1% hike in the median sales price at $199,500.
New condo listings were up by 20%, followed by single-family home listings at 13%. Only co-op listings declined, by 10.7%. Overall, co-op inventory saw the largest decline at almost 42%, followed by single-family homes at almost 27%, and condos at 19.3%. Westchester’s pending sales were the highest in our region, escalating by 18.1%.
Single-family home sales in Putnam County decreased by 7.7%, while the median sales price saw a 4.2% hike to $468,750. Condo sales saw no changes, but the median price increased just over 3% to $325,000. There were no co-op sales reported.
While Putnam offers very few condos, that market did see a 200% increase in new listings over the past year, while new listings for single-family homes saw just a 5.6% uptick. Overall, the condo inventory was up by 38.5%, but single-family homes declined by 37.5%. Putnam’s pending sales were rising slightly at 2.7%.
Rockland County’s single-family median sales price experienced the highest gain across our region at 16.8% to $730,000 from February 2023. Co-op median sales prices also saw a dramatic increase of 22.2% to $137,500, and condo prices grew close to 5% for a median of $385,000. However, property sales dropped in all three areas with co-ops leading the group with a 25% decline, followed by single family homes at almost 12% below and condos with a 4.5% decline.
New listings for co-ops escalated by 60% and 16.2% for single-family homes. Only the condo market saw listings fall by just over 24%. Inventory in all three sectors declined with co-ops leading the way at 61.5%, followed by condos at 36.4% and single-family homes at a 17.6% drop. Pending sales, however, were experiencing a dramatic increase to 16.3%.
In Orange County, single-family home prices rose 5% to a median of $420,000, while condos saw a 2.4% decline in prices for a new median of $289,900. Condo sales increased by almost 15%, and single-family homes by 6.3%. There were no co-op sales reported. Inventory for single-family homes declined just over 30%, and 27.5% for condos. New listings also decreased in both areas by 6.8% for condos and 3.7% for single-family homes. Orange County’s pending sales were also on the rise by 9.6%.
Sullivan County, once considered the oasis for affordable housing, experienced a 16.7% hike in single-family home prices to a new median of $332,500. Sales fell by 8.5% over last year, and new listings declined by 8.6%. Inventory was down by almost 10%. No condo or co-op sales were reported. Sullivan’s pending sales were also moving upward by 7.9%.
Editor’s Note: Link to ALL regional reports: Market Data (hgar.com). Scroll down to 2024 Market Stats)
“The worst of the downturn in home sales could be over, with increasing inventory leading to more transactions,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun.
That fact that both sales and home prices continue to increase is an indication of the high demand and low supply that exists throughout the New York metro area and lower Hudson Valley,” said HGAR CEO Lynda Fernandez.
In October, the regional single-family closed median sale price was $706,000, marking an 8.6% year-over-year increase from $650,000 in October 2023.
“Mortgage rates in Trump’s first term (at 4%) were the good old days. Are we going to go back to 4%? Per my forecast, unfortunately, we will not. It’s more likely that we’ll go back to 6%.
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