…There were 486 sales in the first quarter,
141.8% more than the 201 sales of the prior year
quarter, but 13.8% below the 564 sales in the
prior quarter, which was a two-year high. The
last three quarters of sales activity has been
consistent with the quarterly average of the past
5 years. Gains in the financial markets, Higher
Wall Street compensation, low mortgage rates
and improved affordability have stimulated
demand. Despite economic turmoil of the
past two years, the East End housing market,
which is driven by its second home market, has
continued to keep pace with the New York City
housing market. Although there were sharp gains
in the number of sales, up from levels not seen
in at least six years, listing inventory rose. There
were 2,318 listings, up 1.3% from 2,289 listings
in the same period last year and up 7.4% from
2,159 listings in the prior quarter. Re-sale shadow
inventory, which consists of listings that were
removed from the market in the prior year due
to unfavorable market conditions, is being added
to the current market…
…The median sales price of an East End residential property was $701,161 in the fourth quarter, 1.6% higher than $690,000 in the same period last year and 0.2% above $700,000 in the prior quarter. This is the first year-over-year increase in median sales price since the first quarter of 2008. Average sales price was $1,313,264 in the fourth quarter, down 11% from $1,474,771 in the same period last year and down 2% from $1,339,510 in the prior quarter. The disparity between the median sales price, which removes outliers, and average sales price was attributable to general decline in prices at the high end of the market after rising faster than the overall market in prior years…
Posted by Jonathan J. Miller -Monday, October 26, 2009, 11:00 PM Comments Off
Last week we released market reports for both Long Island and Hamptons/North Fork. The week before we released reports for Brooklyn and Queens. I meant to release short podcast recaps on all four reports (combined into pairs) when they were released but alas, was behind schedule.
Charts that contain the 3Q 2009 data are now available.
An excerpt
…Listing inventory expanded 21.5% to 2,419 units from 1,991 units in the prior year quarter and 5.8% higher than the 2,286 units in the prior quarter. The jump in the number of sales over the summer prompted many sellers to return their listings to the market. There were 459 sales in the third quarter, 49.5% more than the 307 sales of the prior quarter and 29.3% more than the 355 sales in the prior year quarter. The number of sales was the highest quarterly total since the second quarter of 2008, when there were 541 sales, but was 56.4% below the record high water mark of 1,052 sales in the second quarter of 2004. Monthly absorption, the number of months it would take to sell existing inventory at the current pace of sales, peaked in the first quarter of 2009 at 34.2 months. The absorption rate fell in the second quarter to 22.3 months and fell in the third quarter to 15.8 months or roughly half the rate of peak, indicating that the pace of sales activity has been faster than new inventory being added to the market…
“Every room is situated so that you have a left to right, 180 degree angle of the Atlantic Ocean,” said Roland Ubaldo, supervisory deputy US Marshal, who conducted a video tour of the property for the press last week. “It’s a panoramic view. You’re talking about guest bedrooms, master bedrooms, foyer, you name it, [all of them] have a view of the Atlantic Ocean; it really is breathtaking.”
And for the closing pitch…
“There’s an understated elegance, I believe, in this whole residence,” said Marshal Ubaldo. “It’s simple, stylish, but it is understated.”
Could you ever imagine a US Marshal uttering those words while showing a house (carrying a weapon, I assume)? My temples pulsate every time I think of it.
But it is clear that they mean business – and intend to sell for market value so the defrauded investors get back as much as they can (admittedly nominal).
Posted by Jonathan J. Miller -Tuesday, September 1, 2009, 2:47 PM 1 Comment
I had a nice conversation with Deirde Bolton at Bloomberg TV about the Hamptons Housing market and the former Madoff residence in Montauk (had to get up 4:30am to make it in for the 6:45am).
US Marshalls are readying it for market. I heard today that Corcoran was selected as the selling agent for the property.
I also got to catch up with Tom Keene of Bloomberg Surveillance in the Green Room who proceeded totweet my appearance with a little humor.
Here’s the US Marshall video. It’s apparent that they want to get as much for the property as they can – no fire sale – so they can get funds to the swindled investors (a drop in the bucket).
All this activity before 10am this morning. I might need to go to the beach and relax this weekend…I know a house…
Had a fun interview with Tom and Sara this morning on the always MUST watch/listen Bloomberg Surveillance. We talked housing, rentals, vacancy and inventory. An added bonus was the addition of Adam Davidson – co-founder and co-host of Planet Money... Read More
