Tuesday, May 4, 2010

April Sales and Deals

The number of houses going to contract in the towns this blog covers grew a great deal in April, reaching heights we haven't seen in a really long time. Chances are a lot of would-be buyers took the plunge to get the tax credit before it expired at the end of April. There was a lot of activity for Hot Properties too. (Note that I featured the Peekskill house last Tuesday, and it went to contract on Friday.) Full disclosure: Two of the sold homes—the Katonah house and the Yorktown Heights one—closed on March 30 and 31st, but I missed them in the March post. The big question now is, will the market continue to flourish in May?

Contracts signed on single-family homes
March: 79
April: 114

Hot Properties That Went to Contract

Location: Peekskill
Featured: April 27, 2010 
Asking Price When Featured: $229,222
Last Asking Price: $229,222
 
Location: Ossining 
Featured: April 6, 2010 
Asking Price When Featured: $524,222
Last Asking Price: $524,222

 
Location: Peekskill
Featured: March 11, 2010 
Asking Price When Featured: $42,153
Last Asking Price: $42,153





Location: Ossining
Featured: February 23, 2010
Asking Price When Featured: $1,100,000
Last Asking Price: $1,100,000

Location: Croton
Featured: February 4, 2010
Asking Price When Featured: 349,000
Last Asking Price: $320,000

Location: Ossining
Featured: January 26, 2010
Asking Price When Featured: $399,750
Last Asking Price: $399,750

 
Location: Mt. Kisco
Featured: January 8, 2010
Asking Price When Featured: $699,000
Last Asking Price: $699,000

Location: Yorktown
Featured: December 18, 2008
Asking Price When Featured: 925,000
Last Asking Price: $749,000

Location: Montrose
Featured: November 12, 2007
Asking Price When Featured: $568,000
Last Asking Price: $528,000






Hot Properties That Closed

Location: Yorktown
Featured: November 17, 2009
Asking Price When Featured: $619,000
Last Asking Price: $595,000 
Sold for: $550,000

Location: Croton 
Featured: October 8, 2009
Asking Price When Featured: $869,000
Last Asking Price: $699,000
Sold for: $711,000

Location: Katonah
Featured: July 2, 2009
Asking Price When Featured: $799,000
Last Asking Price: $695,000
Sold for: $680,000

Location: Yorktown Heights
Featured: June 19, 2009
Asking Price When Featured: $869,000
Last Asking Price: $819,000
Sold for: $801,000 

Location: Croton
Featured: June 11, 2009
Asking Price When Featured: $1,250,000
Last Asking Price: $1,050,000
Sold for: $903,100

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Croton house sold for OVER ASKING! That shows what the right asking price can do. Cool house.

Also interesting to see houses from 2007 and 2008 going to contract. Shows that old inventory is finally clearing out!

Anonymous said...

I am keeping track of westchester re: prices are consistently going down. The more you wait the better the house you can buy. This economy can keep houses inflated.

Anonymous said...

11:23, What exactly are you keeping track of? Didn't you see the lastest WPMLS report--median sales price was up 13% in the first quarter year over year. Prices are still way down from the peak, but they are going up. And so are sales. Better buy soon.

Anonymous said...

12:27 WPMLS is a realtors index--what would you like that they report? The Case-Shiller index for the NY/NJ area which is reliable--has been going down even with the tax credit. I observe price cuts and selling prices lower than asking--a clear indication of a downturn. If not pressed to buy better wait for a couple of years if not more.

Anonymous said...

Anyone who thinks the WPMLS numbers are doctored is a total nut job.

Case-Shiller is very reliable but it for the entire NY metro area, including the city and Jersey and LI, and doesn't tell you anything about Westchester.

"price cuts and selling prices lower than asking" are a clear sign that lots of sellers are still listing their houses too high. Prices are 25% lower than peak, and many sellers haven't fully adjusted their expectations. But that doesn't change the fact that selling prices are 13% higher than they were a year ago and are still rising!

Anonymous said...

"Case-Shiller is very reliable but it for the entire NY metro area, including the city and Jersey and LI, and doesn't tell you anything about Westchester."

WRONG It does not include Coops and Condos it includes suburbs. Westchester is suburbs and this where the index mostly applies too.

"But that doesn't change the fact that selling prices are 13% higher than they were a year ago and are still rising!"

Anyone who thinks that prices are higher than a year ago or that they are rising is a nut job.

CS index Feb 09 178
CS index Feb 10 170

that is the most reliable index for the region is down -5% and this is with all tax incentives.
Given the state of the economy: no wage increases and no lower mortgage rates prices can only go one way: lower. It's elementary.

Anonymous said...

"WRONG It does not include Coops and Condos it includes suburbs. Westchester is suburbs and this where the index mostly applies too."

A. Most of NYC is houses. Ever been to Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island?

B. Case-Shiller includes NYC, NJ, LI, and Westchester. You can't use it to point to what's happening in any one place without taking apart the numbers by specific locale.

"Anyone who thinks that prices are higher than a year ago or that they are rising is a nut job."

Just look at the local figures. Look at the sales on this very blog. I love bubble-nuts who quote Case-Shiller and ignore the local data in their face!!!

Anonymous said...

This is very misleading. What counts is year-to-year prices changes. One needs to compare prices say in Feb 2009 to prices in Feb 2010. Number of sales are irrelevant. Month to Month prices changes are irrelevant. Even median prices are irrelevant as more expensive houses sold skew the median. One needs same house prices which is what case shiller does. The most local case shiller index is the NY/NJ one.

Can you show us what data support a year-to-year increase in westchester prices?

Anonymous said...

Read my 5/4 11:23 comment:

"Didn't you see the lastest WPMLS report--median sales price was up 13% in the first quarter year over year."

That is 13% increase in median sales price first quarter 2010 compared to first quarter 2009.

Northern Westchester Home said...

I am thrilled to see so many comments on the blog! But two people going back and forth is not a discussion. So I am now locking the comments on this post.