HGAR’s Fernandez, Levine Provide Insights on 2024 Market Activity, RE Legal Issues

WHITE PLAINS—A crowd of more than 100 real estate professionals recently gathered at the offices of the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors for the Women’s Council of Realtors Westchester Network’s annual Legal and Market Update.

The Jan. 22 event featured HGAR President and Chief Executive Officer Lynda Fernandez discussing the changing local residential sales market in 2023 and the possibility of a “Silver Tsunami” in 2024 that could benefit the struggling home sales sector.

2024 WCR Empire Westchester President Ruth Lara Deane introduced the program that also featured Brian Levine, Esq., HGAR’s General Counsel and Professional Standards Administrator, who provided a detailed perspective on current real estate laws, requirements, as well as the commission litigation filed against the National Association of Realtors and some national brokerage firms.

Fernandez, the first woman CEO of HGAR, detailed some difficult final 2023 closed sales statistics that showed activity dropped sharply and by double digits in all markets—Westchester County -23%; Orange County -24.7%; Putnam County – 25.2% and New York counties -41.0%.

Inventory in 2023 plummeted in the region by more than 20% as compared to the previous year—Westchester -28.4%, Orange County -20.8%, Putnam County -28.9% and New York counties -25.1%. The anemic for-sale inventory caused months of supply on the market to fall markedly last year. Westchester’s months of supply fell 22.7% to 1.7 months; Orange County’s months of supply fell 10% to 2.7 months; Putnam County’s months of supply dropped 19.2% to 2.1 months, while New York City counties months of supply decreased 37.4% to 9.2 months of supply.

The lack of supply pushed the median sale price higher in all markets, Fernandez related, with Orange County seeing the largest increase at 4.4%, followed by Westchester at 3.2%; New York City counties at 2.4% and Putnam County at 2.0%.

Fernandez said that hopeful signs for 2024 include falling interest rates and the prospect of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates later this year, which should increase inventory and demand for existing homes.

One promising theory being discussed by some real estate analysts and something Fernandez advised Realtors to watch for in 2024 is a possible “Silver Tsunami” of retiring Baby Boomers who will be putting their homes on the market. Also, due to the advanced age of some boomers, the families of deceased boomers may also be putting their homes on the market for sale.

Fernandez shared that Meredith Whitney, CEO of Meredith Whitney Advisory Group, LLC, who is known in real estate circles as correctly calling the 2008 housing crash, recently floated her “Silver Tsunami” theory that predicts aging Baby Boomers will bring a surge of new supply to the market as they move to smaller houses.

Whitney told Yahoo Finance that 10,000 people a day are turning 65, and by 2030, the entire Baby Boomer generation will be over 65, which will make up 20% of the U.S. population.

In association-related matters, Fernandez advised that for the latest market statistics, HGAR members should use “Fast Stats” on the Matrix system. She also encouraged members to complete their Member Profiles and noted that the HGAR Board of Directors is finalizing the details of its new Strategic Plan, which will be released soon.

She concluded her remarks by noting that change creates opportunities and dealing with and overcoming hardships make an individual stronger. Fernandez noted that she is pleased with the positive momentum the market is now experiencing heading into 2024, although she expects that there will be further difficulties as the markets adapt to a host of economic forces and headwinds.

“Change is coming and I don’t think anyone knows what that is going to look like, but it is inevitable and change is good because we should constantly be striving to change,” Fernandez said. “We should be constantly striving to look at our association and make it better.”

HGAR’s Levine covered a host of legal and regulatory topics including the continued ban on cold calling in New York State, property condition disclosure statement legislation that takes effect on March 20, 2024, as well as the unsettling commission-related litigation against the National Association of Realtors and some brokerage firms.

There was considerable discussion on the impending change to the property conditions disclosure regulations. In September 2023, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law a bill that eliminates the opt-out provision and requires the statement to be signed. The legislation removes the option in current law for the buyer of residential real property to receive a $ 500 credit in lieu of receiving the completed PCDS.

Levine briefed the WCR attendees on the litigation as well as the history of the Department of Justice’s litigation and probe into the actions of the National Association of Realtors. He shared that in addition to NAR’s appeal of the Sitzer-Burnett ruling, the Department of Justice is also focused on the real estate industry.

“The DOJ has the National Association of Realtors in its crosshairs,” Levine said. “And because of that we need to be very careful about what we do and the impact it will have on all the litigation that is going on. They are floating around in the background, hovering above us watching this whole thing very closely.”