Archive for the 'Villages/Towns' Category
Bark and Meow of Tarrytown is one of my favorite haunts for pets. It has everything you could possibly imagine for the upscale New York canine or feline in your life. My own dogs, Jade, Tundra and Buddy sport bandannas and collars from Bark and Meow and are the better looking for it! Today – the owner – Laura Haupt outdid herself with “street art.” Using sidewalk chalk – she created her own version of street art for this special day NY style! Many of the offerings in the store are very New York, including subway line sweatshirts. There is plenty to see and enjoy in that store. Even if you aren’t in the mood to buy, you’ll want to stop by and meet the store’s mascots Juno and Satchi. Juno, the Korean Jindo is the official welcoming committee for humans and canines alike.
Hartsdale, NY is a very small market, so its important to understand that the statistics can vary a lot more than other areas that I cover. Having said that, Hartsdale appears to be in a full blown buyer’s market with almost all indicators pointing in that direction.
Cooperatives:
Coop sales accounted for 62% of the market during the fourth quarter. This is a strong example of a general trend. Entry level housing is moving more than midrange and high-end. Since most people in this market have nothing to sell, they can take advantage of the lower prices without taking a hit on the selling side.
Prices were down almost 7% over the 4th quarter of the previous year.
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White Plains is in buyers market mode with varying levels of weakness and strength in terms of high inventories and low sales volumes. Prices in some sectors are showing more strength than the inventories and volumes would suggest. However, these sectors have already undergone a substantive pricing adjustment and though inventories are still high, they are lower than the White Plains housing inventories from the 3rd quarter.
Cooperatives:
Coops showed a mild price increase over the same quarter from the previous year. However, the average price of $208,000 was down from the previous quarter. This makes some sense as the housing correction started to hit home in the fourth quarter of 2007. Further, the pent up need to buy is quite intense in our area. The correction from the previous quarter combined with lower interest rates probably pulled some fence sitters to get out into the market. There is roughly 4 months of inventory currently on the market which is also an improvement over the 5.5 month inventory of coops at the end of the 3rd quarter.
Happy Holidays to one and all!
Often when people think of Westchester, they think of the glitz and the glamour of New York City. And why not? NYC is a mere 20 miles away and about 30 minutes by train. Certainly downtown White Plains and New Rochelle and building up that “city image.” But Westchester has a “softer side” with many small villages dotting the landscape. Here are some photos of Christmas lights that I have taken over the past few days. Nothing to glitzy or crazy – just a nice seasonal display…courtesy of White Plains, Scarsdale, Larchmont, and Tarrytown.
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Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow are among my favorite places to hang out in Westchester. You can’t beat the historic landmarks and the places like the Rockefeller Preserve for scenic beauty and a great walk. As much as I love the area, I must admit that housing market is in retreat and will probably remain that way until the Wall Street crash moves past the crisis stage and some stability returns to the job market.
The housing market has been slowing in the villages of Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow. This general weakness is seen across all housing sectors with single family homes taking the largest hit with respect to pricing. It is important to note that these closings were either completed or under contract prior to the stock market crash. So further reductions in pricing my occur.
Cooperatives:
Cooperative prices are down roughly 5% over the previous year. Sales volume is down 45% over the previous year with about six months of inventory on the market. Although this has all the earmarks of a buyer’s market, the actual numbers are small – so one shouldn’t read too much into the dramatic decrease in sales volume. Sales are down significantly and this is a buyer’s market – there is no doubt about that – but the 45% decrease would be 27% had there been just two more sales in 2008.
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Larchmont’s third quarter revealed a mixed market. Not as bearish as some other areas. Throughout this housing correction, several pockets in lower Westchester have shown themselves to be remarkably resistant to the downward trend in prices.
Larchmont has been one of these pockets, but there are signs now that this market is correcting – particularly with respect to single-family homes.
Cooperatives:
Cooperatives prices have remained strong and are up 6.7% over the previous year with an average price of $288,000. This statistic belies a marked weakness that I have casually observed. Units in prime condition are selling while those that are “fixers” seem to sit. The price increase may be a reflection of that casual observation. Nevertheless, there is only a 4.5 month supply of units – which though not bullish is hardly bearish. Further, the number of units sold this year is comparable to the number sold over the same period last year.
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OK, I confess! I am a sucker for fall foliage and fall weather. This year has been a banner year for leaf peepers. Everywhere I go, I feel as if I am in the midst of a blazing fire show. In my previous post on the Rockefeller Preserve I displayed some photos from mid-October. These pictures from the Tarrytown lakes were taken later in the season – the first week of November. But what a display! The colors had deepened the yellows are morphing into a deeper more opaque gold and the reds are getting richer in color by the day. It really looks like Westchester County is on fire – a cool fire, because there is that wonderful fall snap in the air.
The Tarrytown Lakes provide a wonderful easy-going walking experience. Perfect for either biking or strolling or serious walking. The trail is about 1 mile long and the main portion is linear. Perfect for a nice two mile walk on a fall day. Dogs must be leashed and you must pick up after them.
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The statistics for housing in Scarsdale during the third quarter of 2008 reflect the emergence of a buyer’s market in our area. Prices in Scarsdale along with many of the surrounding communities have been quite resilient. For a while they seemed to be impervious to the downturn affecting much of the nation, but this is no longer the case.
Cooperatives:
As you can see from the charts below, Prices for cooperatives fell about 13.5% when compared to 3rd quarter stats from 2007. The price drop was about $35,000. The number of units sold dropped roughly 17% from 40 to 33. and the unsold inventory indicates a near six month supply of cooperatives in the area.
This is a buyer’s market. and the price drop is significant. It is probably a very good time for buyers to be on the hunt. An interesting twist to this data is that since the stock market crash in September, there has been a marked increase in the number of contracts showing up on the MLS. This indicates that sellers are being realistic and that buyers are taking advantage of reduced prices along with low interest rates.
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OK, I am digressing to my former life. I was a biology major in college and for many years pursued a career as a research scientist. I still teach at the undergraduate level as an adjunct professor. One of my favorite labs teaches students why leaves change color in the fall. When student’s crush green leaves into a solvent – and separate the pigments using a process called “paper chromatography” the different colored pigments separate out from the green chlorophyll – showing the wide array of color pigments that leaves possess. The pigments are there (carotenoids and anthrocyanins) even when the leaf is green, but you can’t see them because the amount of green chlorophyll simply overwhelms them.
As summer turns to fall, the days grow shorter and the chlorophyll starts to break down. This allows the other pigments in all their splendor to be revealed. Some years, the “show” is more vivid.
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The third quarter stats for Hartsdale mirrors the stats that I previously posted for White Plains in that a slow down and price drop in cooperatives and single family homes did not spread into the condo market.
Cooperatives:
The number of sales was down significantly from the previous year (33%.) This was reflected in lower prices with a 4% overall price drop observed. The drop in sales volume is significant and points to further weakness in this particular market. There is a five month supply of inventory, putting cooperatives firmly in buyer’s market territory. The average price for the third quarter of 2008 was $216,000.
Condominiums:
The average sales price of condos actually rose in value roughly 4.2% over the same period last year. The sales volume remains unchanged from the same period last year. The average price for a condo in Hartsdale during the third quarter of 2008 was $425,000 – up 4.2% from the previous year. There is only 3.8 months of inventory – indicating that the condo market remains relatively strong for sellers.
