Hudson Valley home sales continued to fly high in 2021's second quarter: realtors report

Sales of Lower Hudson Valley homes continued to fly high in this year's second quarter, propelled by prices — led by Westchester County — that soared above the comparable period in the past three years.

While 2020's sales numbers were affected by restrictions meant to fight the pandemic, the 2021 Q2 sales also topped, in some cases dramatically, the sales figures from the second quarters of 2018 and 2019, according to data put out Tuesday by the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors (HGAR).

• In Westchester, single-family houses sold for a median of $835,000 in the second quarter, up from $710,000 in second-quarter 2020 and $702,500 in the same period of 2019.
• In Rockland, the $550,000 second-quarter median single-family house sales price was up from $475,000 in 2020 and $450,000 in 2019.
• Putnam’s $442,000 median single-family house price was up from $358,400 in 2020 and $365,000 in 2019.

And the overall number of sales, for April 1 through June 30, well outpaced that of the same months in 2018-2020.

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Through June 30, the number of sales in Westchester were up nearly 48% for the six-month period: 5,361 sales compared to 3,631 in 2020's first half. The 2021 mid-point figures also beat the 4,334 sales in the first six months of 2019 and the 4,430 midway through 2018.

Westchester saw 3,342 single-family homes sold through June 30, compared to 2,244 in 2020's first half, 2,484 for that period in 2019, and 2,602 in 2018.

The trend of higher sales prices and more homes sold largely continued in areas farther north of New York City, according to the real estate group's report.

Orange County’s $360,000 single-family home median sale price was up 20.8% from $298,000 in Q2 of last year. Consider that in 2018’s second quarter the median sale was $250,000.

In Sullivan County, the median single-family sale was $229,900, compared to $175,000 in 2020’s second quarter. In the same quarter of 2018, the median was $125,000.

“While these sales numbers evidence strong resiliency in the housing market, it is important to view them in the context that the housing market in the second quarter of 2020 was in large part frozen by COVID-19 restrictions and an inability to conduct in-person property showings,” said the July 6 report put out by HGAR. “However, even when comparing the 2nd quarter 2021 sales to the pre-pandemic 2nd quarter of 2019, the increases are still significant.”

As for how many single-family houses, condominiums, co-ops, and multi-family homes were sold, figures showed that:

• Westchester had 2,898 sales in 2021’s second-quarter, up 59.9% from last year’s second quarter amid the pandemic, but also higher than the same period in 2018 and 2019.
• Putnam had 350 Q2 sales, up 34.6% from the same 2020 period and higher than in the previous two years’ periods. In 2019, for instance, there were 275 Q2 sales.
• Rockland had 850 sales in Q2, up 75.4% from the same time a year ago and still well above the 635 sales recorded in Q2 of both 2018 and 2019.
• Orange saw 1,170 Q2 sales, a 57.3% increase from the quarter in 2020 and slightly above the number of sales for that period in 2018 and 2019.
• Sullivan netted 356 sales, up 80.7% from last year’s Q2 and still far above the 246 sales in second-quarter 2018 and 227 sales in the quarter in 2019.

Condominiums also sold at a higher median in all but one of the six counties the report highlights.

In Westchester, for instance, the $405,000 median sales price was higher than the $390,000 in Q2 of 2020 but also the $400,000 in the same period of 2019 and the $369,500 in 2018.

The same held true for the number of condos sold. In Rockland, for example, 181 condos sold in the second quarter, compared to 104 in last year's second quarter, 123 in 2019, and 135 in 2018.

“While the lower Hudson Valley markets may have initially benefited by Manhattan residents departing the city for the suburbs, (a trend which may well have been over-stated) the New York City residential market is also showing signs of a strong recovery," the HGAR report said. "It could be argued that the increased sales numbers throughout the New York City and greater suburban area are the result of the pandemic accelerating the natural migration of home-owners who might otherwise have delayed home purchasing and selling decisions."

Michael P. McKinney covers breaking news for The Journal News, the Poughkeepsie Journal, and the Times-Herald Record.