January 30, 2012 (Shirley Allen)
Monthly sales of existing single-family homes in New York made a comeback in December with homes sales increasing by over 10 percent for the month, but it still wasn’t enough to push 2011’s sales above the previous year’s according to the latest housing data from the New York State Association of Realtors® (NYSAR).
An estimated total of 6,405 existing single-family homes were sold in the Empire State in December. That was 10.7 percent higher than the 5,732 homes sold in November and 2.4 percent higher than the 6,254 homes sold in December 2010.
The median sales price for an existing home in New York fell 3.8 percent in December to $202,000, down from $210,000 in November, and was 8.2 percent lower than the median price of $220,000 in December of 2010.
Duncan R. MacKenzie, chief executive officer of NYSAR, stated, “The housing market sales comeback in the fourth quarter builds hope for an improving 2012 market. The continued stabilization of the statewide median sales price is a positive sign for homeowners, and a signal for would-be buyers that it’s time to focus on advantages such as record-low mortgage rates and solid affordability factors rather than price declines.”
For all of 2011, there were 72,058 existing homes sold in New York, 3.9 percent lower than the 74,970 homes in 2010. The median sales price in 2011 was $212,500, a modest 0.7 percent lower than the median price of $214,000 in 2010
Of the 40 counties that provide data for the monthly report, 21 reported sales gains over the previous year with the largest gain posted in Chenango County (+126.7 percent) and the largest decline posted in Washington County (-46.9 percent).
The statewide housing market continues to be unpredictable, punctuated by upswings that have yet to emerge as an ongoing trend,” MacKenzie added.
Tags: existing homes, condos, sales, median home prices, New York
Source:
NYSAR
