The Lower Hudson Valley housing market just wrapped up its busiest year since 2011, when the region began climbing out of recession, according to a report just issued by the Hudson Gateway Association Multiple Listing Service Inc.
Realtors participating in the listing service, a subsidiary of the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors Inc., reported 18,145 closings of residential transactions in 2016 in their coverage area of Westchester, Putnam, Rockland and Orange counties. The figure is 2,019 higher, or 12.5 percent more, than the year before.
The volume of sales far exceeded the pace of inventory replenishment in the region. Putnam’s 2016 year-end inventory decreased by 31.2 percent, Westchester by 21.2 percent, Orange by 20.8 percent and Rockland by 16.1 percent compared to 2015.
The median sale prices of Rockland and Putnam single family homes went up by 2.4 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively, although medians for the rest of property types, including condominiums and cooperatives, went down.