The first thing to note about the Westchester real estate market is how strongly volume has picked up. Though 2009 was a depressed year for sales, the rebound has been quite dramatic. Through the end of February, year-to-date sales were up almost 46% from the same point last year. Volume increased more than 40% in the market areas detailed on the next two pages.
County-wide, average and median sale prices were up 12% and 7%, respectively, from last year. Single family homes are also selling at higher percentages of the asking price (92.52% vs. 91.74%). However, it is taking longer to sell a home; average and median days on market increased by more than 5%.
My outlook for 2010 continues to be relatively positive and I continue to believe that residential property prices are in the process of stabilizing and that the bottom is already behind us. However, there are two big issues facing the housing market:
- The federal home buyer tax credit expires on April 30 (this only applies to properties less than $800,000)
- The Federal Reserve has announced that as of March 30, it will no longer purchase mortgage backed securities. This buying activity has held interest rates down. If and by how much interest rates rise is anybody’s guess; however, most experts agree that they will go up.
The luxury market is also holding up fairly well, as shown on the bottom of the next page. As you can see, properties are selling at all price points. If you have specific questions about a particular market area, let me know!
