Westchester View

Westchester NY real estate has been heavily impacted by the financial storm  of 2008.  In some areas, the storm continues to brew and in other areas – there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel.  White Plains NY homes are no exception to the rule.  Last year saw a marked decline in  the prices for  single family White Plains NY homes for sale.  Although there were significant declines in the condo an cooperative markets, these did not match what happened to single family homes.  Sales volume was sluggish in spite of a strong buyer’s market.

The first quarter of 2010  the single family home market, is showing signs of strength. While the condo and cooperative markets appear to be showing signs of greater weakness.

Cooperatives – White Plains NY:

The average sales price of a coop in White Plains is down 16.4% over the 4th quarter of 2009 at $184,000.  There were 29 sales recorded on the  WPMLS in Q1 and the current inventory  has 172 listings.  Using these numbers there is nearly an 18 month inventory on the market – indicating significant  weakness and a depreciating market.  Contracts and pendings are encouraging – but assuming all of these contracts end in a sale – which never happens -  there is still a near 10 month overhang of inventory.  The bright spot in the market is that sales volume is a good deal higher – up 45% over last year when the markets were virtually frozen.

This is a market that represents opportunity for buyers and requires sellers to be very realistic.  The pricing a the Broadlawn reflects this trend that is being seen throughout the White Plains market.

Condos – White Plains NY:

The average price of a condo in White Plains NY has  gone down 14.8% from the first quarter of 2009.  The average price of a condo in White Plains fell form $460,000 to $392,000.  23 sales were recorded on the WPMLS during the first quarter with an overhanging inventory of 161.  That leaves a nasty 21 months of inventory on the market making this a strong buyer’s market.  However contracts and pendings make this picture look a lot brighter and indicate an 8 month inventory.  The reality probably lies somewhere in the middle of these two numbers.  But either way, buyers have a strong upper hand.  As with coops the volume of sales for Condos in White Plains is up 43% from Q1 2009.

The price range is interesting to note:  In 2009 the high end of the market was not moving at all – this has changed. The price range according to the MLS ranged from $135,000 for a small studio to $1,220,000 at the Ritz Carlton.

Single Family Homes – White Plains NY:

Surprisingly – single family homes saw a price increase of 8.2% with the average sales price coming in at $643,000.   The number of sales closed on the WPMLS was 39 – an increase of  34% from the totally stagnant market of Q1 2009.   Although encouraging, a closer look indicates no true price increase. What we appear to have here is resurgence of sales at the upper end – skewing the data higher.  This follows the pattern in the condo market.  The number of months of inventory on the market 11 months if you look at closed sales, and 7 months if you look contracts and pendings.

This is a market that is showing a bit more strength than some other markets.  It is still very much a buyer’s market. But the steep dip in prices that was 2009 has created a more healthy market in its wake.

Further Reading:

White Plains NY Housing Market Statistics – Fourth Quarter 2009

White Plains NY Housing Market Statistics – Third Quarter 2009

Housing and Market Statistics for White Plains NY – Second Quarter 2009

The Broadlawn – White Plains NY

Trump Tower – White Plains

Jefferson Place – White Plains

Gedney Farms – White Plains NY

© Ruthmarie G. Hicks – http://thewestchesterview.com – All rights reserved.

The housing market in White Plains has taken a drubbing since the stock market crash of 2008.  Although some adjacent areas are showing small signs of stabilization, the same can not be said for the city of White Plains. This is ironic because White Plains was at the epicenter of the housing boom for Westchester County.

White Plains  NY Cooperatives:

Cooperative prices were actually up slightly over the same period in 2008.  However, this slight uptick might be do to an increase in the proportion of 2 BR units in the sales statistics.  The previous quarter showed a grim 17% price reduction and recent sales in specific complexes indicates that this downward trend is continuing.  Since 2 BR units are suddenly far more affordable, buyers are finding that they can afford a larger unit.  Sales volume is down 17% over the previous year and the current inventory of 9 months indicates a buyer’s market undergoing  a price correction bordering on double digits.
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This is a story about selling your home during a housing recession.

Sellers with homes listed today will be able to identify with some of the antics that buyers in a bear market will pull.  But this is about a listing that was active 14 years ago in 1996 – during another deep housing recession.   I wasn’t a real estate agent at the time,  I was a seller.  My mother had just died after a prolonged illness and I was listing her house for sale.  The house in question was a beautiful 1932 Tudor sitting on prime property with sweeping golf course views in wonderful residential area in White Plains.  There was a good deal of emotion involved since the home in question had been designed by my Grandmother and built by my Grandfather.

Although I wasn’t an agent  I was smart enough to read the newspapers and  so I know it was a crummy market.   The house would have been worth roughly $600k just a few short years ago – but in 1996-1997 I was hoping for about $550k – but knew I would probably only see a litte more than $500k. Gut instinct told me to rent the place, but my co-executor was adamant that the house had to be sold.

Nothing prepared me for the crazy home buyers that came through looking for a “deal.”

90% of them were bottom-feeders looking to steal a house – and looking for ANY excuse to chisel  the price to the bone.   My beleaguered broker  came to me with all sorts of concession requests – some of which made  sense.  But more often than not, the requests bordered on the absurd. Some of the more hilarious issues are worth noting because when we see frustrated sellers – we need to be aware that their pain is real and that some of the crazy concessions being asked by buyers can be truly ridiculous.

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