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This is not your typical local market post.
A 4-year look at back at single family home sales for Westchester County, NY with data from the Westchester Putnam Multiple Listing Service. The stats are banal. Read the conclusion if they bore you.
A few observations:
- The number of transactions in 2009 was just over half (55%) the number of sales in 2005.
- In 2009, the median price, which was relatively stable, took it on the chin in Westchester. I attribute this to the spike in foreclosures.
- The dip in transactions between 2007 and 2008 was due mostly to the sub prime crisis, which hit in the summer of 2007.
- Median prices are down 14% since 2005.
That’s the 5-year snapshot. Read on:
Thus far in 2010, there have been 393 closings with a median price of $617,500.
The same 48-day period in 2009 had 199 closings with a median price of $555,000.
Conclusion: The tax credit stimulus is working. Moreover, we may have just witnessed the bottom of the market.
If banks continue to make money more accessible and consumers realize that they are not priced out, we might be at the beginning of a stable period with a recovery on the horizon. Nothing to get giddy about, just a cautious observation based on data. The real truth will be known when we witness how the buying public behaves after the tax credit expires in April 30, 2010. That is typically the height of the Spring activity, and there may be enough momentum to sustain the strong movement into the summer. If so, barring another catastrophic economic event, we might be past the nadir. That might be about right, as the improving West Coast was ahead of us in both the bust and post bust.
