The New York State housing market monthly sales reached a 26-month high in August with existing single-family home, condo and co-op transactions increasing by 8 percent from July and nearly 4 percent compared to last August, according the housing market report released today by the New York State Association of REALTORS. Additionally, the August statewide median sales price grew 4 percent and the number of pending sales increased by 13.3 percent compared to August 2011.

“Posting the highest monthly sales total in more than two years is a welcome milestone for the statewide housing market’s continuing recovery,” said Duncan R. MacKenzie, NYSAR CEO, who noted that August is a typically busy month in the seasonal market. “Other positive signs through the first eight months of 2012 can be found in the steady growth in closed and pending sales on a year-to-date basis as well as the stable median sales price. We look for these trends to continue into the early fall.”

MacKenzie noted that year-to-date (Jan. 1 to Aug. 31) closed sales are up 6.8 percent and pending sales are up 15.7 percent compared to the same period in 2011. The year-to-date median sales price of $214,900 is virtually unchanged from the 2011 median of $216,000, he added.

“We continue to see the market moving toward a balance between buyers and sellers as inventory declines due to a decrease in new listings and increasing sales,” said MacKenzie. “While there are still advantages for buyers in today’s market, such as good affordability conditions and low mortgage rates, the continued reduction in the number of homes for sale helped sellers receive nearly 95 percent of their asking price in August.”

The August market posted 9,834 closed sales, up 3.9 percent from the August 2011 total of 9,468. Year-to-date (Jan. 1 to Aug. 31) closed sales reached 60,755 at the end of August, an increase of 6.8 percent from last year.

The statewide median sales price reached $225,000, an increase of 4 percent compared to the August 2011 median of $216,250. The year-to-date (Jan. 1 to Aug. 31) median of $214,900 was 0.5-percent behind the $216,000 median in 2011.

The months supply of inventory continued to trend toward a more balanced market, dropping 30.1 percent in August to 11.4 months supply. It stood at 16.3 months in August 2011. A 6 month to 6.5 month supply is considered to be a balanced market. Inventory stood at 94,293 units in August 2012, a decrease of 21.8 percent compared to August 2011

Local Armonk, Chappaqua, and Bedford Corners Real Estate Inventory  |  RobReportBlog

September 2012

NAR reports six months of unsold inventory is the sign of a healthy local real estate market.

Armonk                 11.5  months of unsold homes

Chappaqua              9.8 months 

Bedford Corners       17  months

On average 9.3 homes sell per month in Armonk, 11.5 in Chappaqua and 2.1 in Bedford Corners

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — In another sign of a turnaround in the long-battered real estate market, average home prices rebounded in July to the same level as they were nine years ago.

According to the closely watched S&P/Case-Shiller national home price index, which covers more than 80% of the housing market in the United States, the typical home price in July rose 1.6% compared to the previous month.

It marked the third straight month that prices in all 20 major markets followed by the index improved, and it would have been the fourth straight month of improvement across the full spectrum if not for a slight decline in Detroit in April.

The index was up 1.2% compared to a year earlier, an improvement from the year-over-year change reported for June. While home prices have been showing a sequential change in recent months, it wasn’t until June that prices were higher than a year earlier.

The July reading matched levels last seen in summer 2003, when the market was marching toward its peak in 2006. The collapse of the market after that led to the financial crisis of 2008.

“The news on home prices in this report confirm recent good news about housing,” said David Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “Single-family housing starts are well ahead of last year’s pace, existing home sales are up, the inventory of homes for sale is down and foreclosure activity is slowing.”

Record low mortgage rates and a tighter supply of homes available for sale have helped to lift home prices. Lower unemployment also has helped with home prices, although job growth in recent months has been slower than hoped.

Earlier this month, the Federal Reserve announced it would buy $40 billion in mortgage bonds a month for the foreseeable future. This third round of asset purchases by the central bank, popularly known as QE3, is its effort to jump start the economy through even lower home loan rates.

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Mike Larson, real estate analyst with Weiss Research, said part of the improvement in the housing market is due to investors using the low mortgage rates to buy up homes that are in foreclosure and renting them in a strong rental market.

But he said that he doesn’t think there’s much chance of housing prices forming any kind of new bubble in the foreseeable future.