HOME SALES INCREASE 43 PERCENT

Mike McCagg

ccSCOOP News

05-04-10 - 12:15 p.m. - Home sellers in Columbia County have benefitted from the apparent turnaround in the economy and the first-time home buyers tax credit. But despite the $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time home buyers expiring this Friday, area real estate representatives say they expect the increased sales volume to continue.

“This time I think it will continue. We have customers making appointments for the weekend knowing they will not make the deadline, but who are still interested because of the market,” said Robert Weinman, with Red Apple Realty in Claverack. Home sales in the county jumped dramatically in the last year, with a 42.9 percent spike in sales between the first quarter of 2009 and the first quarter of 2010, according to a report from the New York State Association of Realtors. In all, 70 homes were sold in the first three months of 2010 in the county, up from just 49 last year.

Despite the rebound, the numbers have still not reached the heights of early 2008 prior to the economic slump, when 100 homes were sold in the county in the first quarter.

The rebound compares well with that seen in Greene County, where 71 homes were sold in the first quarter this year, a 54.3 percent jump over the same time period last year. Meanwhile in Dutchess County, realtors reported an 8.8 percent spike in activity between the first quarter of last year and this year, with 408 homes changing hands this year.

The median price of homes rebounded in Columbia County unabated despite gloomier news in the counties to the south and west. Columbia County’s median price for a home sold jumped 19 percent to $225,000 during the first quarter of this year, compared with the same time period last year, and increased 4.7 percent from the last quarter of 2009. At the same time in Greene County, median home sale price declined from the fourth quarter to the first quarter of this year while showing an overall year-to-year increase of just 2.6 percent. In Dutchess County, home prices have dropped a staggering 22 percent in the last two years and have not rebounded in any quarter, showing a nearly 9 percent drop in the last year and a 5.2 percent decline in the last quarter.

“Certainly at the beginning of the first quarter there was a lot of activity fueled by first-time home buyers and people taking advantage of that tax credit. But the interest is beyond those markets,” said Denise Dapice, owner of Chatham Properties.  “We are also seeing significant activity in the higher price ranges, over $500,000. Overall, people are realizing that there are some great deals out there in all ranges.”

Like Weinman and other realtors interviewed, Dapice said the market is the primary driving factor for the rebound in home sales, and she predicted that sales will continue once the first-time home buyers tax credit expires.  “The sales truly are being driven primarily by there being good values out there,” she said.

Area experts said that as a result of people shopping for the bargain; there are no true “hot spots” for activity in the county. “For the first time, the geographic boundaries have been broken down,” said Dapice.

Realtors also expect home sale prices to remain steady. “Any price adjustments we are going to see over the next quarters is sellers catching up to the fact that the market is not the same that it was five years,” Daprice commented.

Weinman said he also expects the median home sale price to remain in the $225,000 range. “I think we have reached a point where it will settle for a while,” he said.