Hudson Valley Housing Market 'Struggling' In Early 2023

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — The first quarter of 2023 dashed the hopes of the region's real estate industry that things would change for the better after a tricky end to 2022, according to the first quarter report from the Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Service.

Instead, the data for Westchester, Putnam, Rockland and Orange counties show the market "still continues to struggle," the report writers said. Inventory levels continue to drop compared to a year earlier, most dramatically in Putnam County, where inventory fell 34.9 percent.

"This is a supply issue," HGAR Regional Director Aaron Velez told Patch. "That is really making it difficult. If you're selling a property today, you are in good shape. From a seller's perspective, it's an incredible time to sell, still. There's a lack of competition. Homes are selling faster and they're selling for more, we're just not selling as many."

Residential sales — including single-family homes, condominiums, co-operatives and 2-4 family multi-family homes — slumped across the board when compared to the first quarter of 2022.

The unbalanced market creates an industry-wide problem, said Velez, a realtor with Houlihan Lawrence in Putnam County.

"Having so many fewer transactions, it's not great for the general health of real estate; we want to see more balance: more properties, more buyers buying. When everything leans too heavily one way, it's not the best," he said. "From a realtor's standpoint, I hate not having inventory."

The biggest declines were on the west side of the Hudson River. In Rockland County, sales declined 38 percent. Orange County’s sales dropped 35.1 percent.

On the east side, Westchester County had a decrease in residential sales of 32.7 percent and Putnam County saw a drop of 31.7 percent.

It's a dramatic change from the super-heated market of the pandemic, as this graphic from the report shows.

Another perspective on the tight market is sale prices.

For single-family homes, Orange County saw the biggest increase in the median sale price, 5.2 percent. Westchester County saw a 4.3 percent increase in the final price and Rockland County had an increase of 4.2 percent.

Only Putnam County saw a decrease in the median sale price — 5.3 percent.

"The news there is good," Velez said. "The prices are the new standard."

The median sale prices:

• Westchester: $760,000
• Rockland: $625,000
• Putnam: $450,000
• Orange County: $394,500

Buyer confidence has been shaken by the recent banking crisis, high interest rates, inflation and predictions by some economists of an impending downturn or recession later this year, the report said.

"With inflation, people have a more difficult time purchasing anything, but when it comes to a mortgage, even a slight increase in an interest rates is a really significant increase in a monthly payment," Velez said.

Still, he said, interest rates are still good, compared particularly to the last 40 years.

"You're looking at 6 percent, which isn't the 3 percent we had ... but it ebbs and flows," he said. "The phrase is, 'you date the rate, you marry the house.' The concept being that interest rates will ebb and flow, they'll change, but the reasons why we buy — whether it's schools, more room, a yard, moving closer to family — that won't change."

Despite economic fears, member firms report continued strong interest in the lower Hudson Valley, HGAR said in the report.

"We have a lot of buyer demand, and we want to put buyers in homes," Velez said. "It'll be a very interesting year."