Median Sale Price For Home In Bedford Climbs 11 Percent

WESTCHESTER COUNTY, N.Y. -- Real estate sales painted a positive picture for Westchester County during an unusually busy third quarter.

Real estate sales grew 5.7 percent in the third quarter in Westchester County.
Photo Credit: *File photo*

Tom Renner

10/15/2015 8:30 a.m.

Total closed sales rose 5.7 percent for single family homes in Westchester County compared to the third quarter last year, with the median selling price climbing 2.4 percent according to the report from Better Homes & Gardens Rand Realty. Condominium sales shot up 21.6 percent in the third quarter.

“We’ve now seen sustained sales growth for almost four years,’’ said Joe Rand, Managing Partner with Rand Realty. “Sales totals are slowly returning to ‘seller market levels,’ with the 2,060 quarterly closings the highest since 2003 and the 5,570 yearly sales the highest since 2006.”

Sales shot up 49 percent in the Katonah-Lewisboro school district, according to the third quarter report from Julia B. Fee Sotheby’s International Realty. Sales were also up in Somers (41 percent), North Salem (18 percent) and Chappaqua (10 percent). For the North region of Westchester, sales grew 13 percent and outpaced the rest of the county, which was 10 percent.

The 12-month median sale price is up 11 percent in Bedford. In the Byram Hills school district, the median sale price rose 10 percent. Somers saw a 7 percent decline.

“Northern Westchester is without a doubt the best kept secret around,’’ said Robert Vannucchi, Executive Vice President of Douglas Elliman. “The amount of home you can get is pretty astounding. We have some tremendous properties. It’s a great opportunity for buyers.”

Rand said that across the Hudson Valley, the real estate landscape is shifting towards a “sellers’ market.”

“The 4,500 single-family regional sales were the highest quarterly total since 2005, and the 13,000 rolling year transactions were the highest since 2007,’’ Rand said. “To put this in perspective, those 13,000 rolling year transactions are about 20 percent below the 16,000-sale rate at the very height of the seller’s market in 2004-05, but about 60 percent higher than the 8,000-sale rate we experienced at the very bottom of the market in 2008-09. When it comes to transactional levels, we’re a lot closer to 2005 than 2009.”

Rand believes the real estate market will close the year strong, and finish with one of the best years in this century.

“Going forward, we expect that the Westchester market will continue to outpace sales levels from last year, and that prices will eventually start to gather momentum,’’ he said. “With inventories tightening and interest rates near historic lows, we believe that the market is poised to finish the year strong.”