Lower Hudson home sales soar in 1Q

Home sales were "robust" in the Lower Hudson Valley for the year's first three months and are expected to climb as spring takes hold, the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors says.

There were 2,552 closed residential sales from January through March, up 10.8 percent over the 2,304 closings in the same period last year.

Most sales were of properties marketed in the fall and winter, said the White Plains-based realty association that analyzes sales for Westchester, Rockland, Putnam and Orange counties.

"Westchester, which accounts for about 60 percent of the region's real estate sales, led the way with a powerful 19.4 percent sales increase in its single-family house sector," said the report released Monday.

And it continues: "Overall, the lower Hudson region's real estate market appears to be shedding the last of any remaining baggage from the recession that bottomed sales and prices in 2009. With some few exceptions there is now strong pent-up demand by buyers in most parts of the region, in all price ranges, and among all residential property types."

There is one caveat.

"These numbers come from sales we put together prior to our horrendous winter" that were finalized during the quarter, said Diane Cummins, manager of Douglas Elliman in Katonah and HGAR president. The spring will be good, she said, but will not produce double the first-quarter numbers because there were weeks this winter when houses could not be shown and most people were consumed with shoveling and getting to work or home.

Those second-quarter sales get their start in January and February with showings and negotiations, she explained.

"Spring is based on deals we put together in the winter," she said. "That said, there are new houses coming to market and I wish we had even more. We don't have a lack of inventory, but we don't have a surplus."

And it remains true that updated, move-in-ready homes don't languish on the market.

On Jan. 27 Douglas Elliman listed a four-bedroom house on 1 acre at 9 Tanglewild Road in Chappaqua for $1,250,000 and within a week it had five offers. The renovated house went to contract at slightly above asking price, said Gabe Pasquale, executive vice president, Westchester, for the firm.

"There is a bounce in the market but there is also a ceiling in pricing," he said. "Inventory that is priced appropriately is selling in 30 days or less."

The National Association of Realtors has said that nationally home sales held steady in January but dipped roughly 10 percent in February based on its pending sales reports. It releases its first-quarter nationwide numbers later this month.

Given the brutal winter weather the numbers are "wonderful," said JP Endres, manager of Better Homes and Gardens Rand Realty in New City and president of the New York State Association of Realtors.

She hopes new listings will spur spring buyers.

"We have buyers waiting for inventory and prices are inching up," she said. "Houses that are move-in ready and priced well will move fast."