Region's Home Sales, Prices Rose in 2013

The real estate market in Putnam, Rockland and Westchester counties finished 2013 by continuing to recover from the Great Recession, according to the Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Service. 

The MLS published its report for the fourth quarter of 2013 by announcing double digit increases in sales volumes, and some increases in prices as  well, in the four-county area that also includes Orange County.

The service, a subsidiary of the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors, Inc. MLS Member Realtors, reported 13,781 closed residential sales in those counties, a 20 percent increase over 2012’s performance—and pointed out that that had been a robust bounce-back from the bottom of the real estate recession in 2008 and 2009.

Rockland showed a 14 percent increase in sales, while Putnam had a 17 percent increase over the same time in 2012 and Westchester showed a 21 percent jump.

The recent numbers were the highest posted with the MLS since 2007, service officials said in a press release. 

The housing inventory has shrunk slightly—more due to supply and demand than consumer nervousness about the economy.

"Prospective sellers who may have been avoiding the market until it meets their expectations for higher prices, may find themselves waiting longer still. Year to year median sale prices of single family houses have increased just a few percent, and have actually decreased some more in Orange County," MLS officials said in the statement. 

• The largest price increase occurred in Westchester County where the median sale price of a single family house increased by 3.9 percent, from $587,000 in 2012 to $610,000 in 2013,
• Putnam County posted a 2.8 percent increase in its single family house median, to $308,500.
• Rockland achieved a 2.6 percent increase, to $390,000.
• In other sectors, Westchester condos also posted a 3.9 percent increase in median price, to $343,000. Cooperatives – Westchester’s most affordable housing type, posted a median of $150,000, a mere 1.0 percent increase from 2012.