An assessment of the Westchester-Putnam real estate market in recent months can generate an optimistic or pessimistic outlook depending on how far back one makes the comparisons.
…the second quarter market could be characterized as on Pause with no clear trend line Forward or Rewind.
In the meantime, these second quarter results carry no trend line with them. The market is fragile and how it goes from here depends entirely on a wide range of economic and public policy factors ranging from mortgage interest rates and job growth, to alteration of tax policy (elimination of the mortgage interest deduction?), possible regulation of down payments (“Qualified Residential Mortgages”), the future management of the secondary mortgage market, even the outcome of the debate over the national debt limit, to the extent that its resolution affects real estate tax policy and spending on housing support programs. Uncertainty prevails at all levels and our Westchester-Putnam local real estate market is caught up in that.
Inventory at the close of the quarter amounted to nearly 8,000 units in Westchester, an increase of 5% from last year. Putnam County’s inventory increased by only 2%. Inventory can increase, and has often done so here, in response to a rising market that induces homeowners to list their properties in the expectation of gain. Clearly that was not the case with this second quarter, however. Rather, classic supply and demand economics was in play as demand, measured by actual sales, fell nearly 500 transactions short of last year’s count. On the positive side, the level of inventory is not very large by either short- or long-term experience in this area.
It seems that the temperature outside may be hot, but the real estate market is still a bit cool. Read the complete 6 page report here.
To compare this report, with reports going back as far as 1981, visit Market Statistics at WPAR.org.
