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“Even though sales were a tick down, we saw some meaningful price appreciation,’’ said Joe Rand, a Managing Partner for Better Homes and Gardens Rand Realty. “Sales were down, but we were measuring against an unnaturally high baseline. Last May was a spike in interest rates and that sparked a frenzy. When people realized rates weren’t going over 5 percent, it slowed things down a bit. It set a high baseline. There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with the market.”
For the second quarter, 1,955 homes were sold in Westchester County, a decline of 2.4 percent from the 2,003 homes sold in the third quarter in 2013, according to figures provided by Houlihan Lawrence. The median sale price climbed 4.6 percent to $680,000, and the average sale price rose 6.6 percent to $916,593.
For the complete report from Houlihan Lawrence, click on the attached PDF. Reports from Douglas Elliman and Julia B. Fee Sotheby’s International Realty are also available online.
Home sales in Northern Westchester reflected the county as a whole in the third quarter. Sales of single family homes fell 25 percent in Somers, 5 percent in Chappaqua and North Salem, and 17 percent in Lewisboro and Katonah, according to the Houlihan Lawrence report.
However, median sale price rose 3 percent in Bedford, 2 percent in Chappaqua, 7 percent in Katonah and Lewisboro, and 5 percent in North Salem. The median sale price dipped just 1 percent in Somers.
Some Westchester homes are even selling above asking price. In Westchester County, 19 percent of homes sold went at or above asking in the third quarter, according to HL. The average Westchester home sale was at 97.3 percent of the asking price, the highest percentage to asking since 2005.
“We saw the return of the bidding war and multiple offers last summer for a little bit,’’ Rand said. “It’s coming back, but at a much more selective way. Well-priced homes are generating interest, but it’s not widespread. What we’re seeing now is much more sustainable. A certain market and a certain time, you might get in a bidding war. It’s certainly not 2004, when almost everything was a bidding war.”
Realtors are encouraged heading into the fourth quarter that the market has exited recovery mode and has now reached steady, stable growth.
“The market is fundamentally sound,’’ Rand said. “We’re seeing a nice reasonable rate of appreciation. Things aren’t soaring. I’ll take 4 or 5 percent a year all day long. Inventory is good, demand is strong and mortgage rates are stable. I think the market is in better shape than at any time in the last 10 years.”
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