Staten Island Real Estate News, Advice & Information

The combination of better financial and housing news, historic low interest rates, and the $8000 tax credit is spurring significantly more activity on Staten Island. Most of all, positive housing numbers are beginning to take shape here, and across the country.

Signs that some market segments are beginning to look a bit healthier on Staten Island are encouraging. However, market improvement does not necessarily mean higher home prices. Nevertheless, I don’t expect home values to slide any further in certain segments of the Staten Island real estate market.

Nationally, positive housing numbers are taking shape as pending home sales have increased 6.7 percent according to the latest NAR Report. The real question is what’s happening here on Staten Island? Well, as of this post, there are 734 homes in contract, and that’s significant. Staten Island’s home sales in the first quarter of this year did not crack 200 per month, and January stood at the low point with 157 total sales. However, since January of this year, while bouncing a bit, monthly sales have increased steadily. Another other very vital stat is a homes days on the market (DOM) before selling. Island wide the numbers are beginning to decline, while it’s difficult to say this is a sustained decline, the curve has begun head in that direction. What makes this statistic significant is it’s a harbinger of where the market is usually heading.

Back to pending contracts, and why it’s significant. With nearly 734 contracts pending it’s really a precursor for what the sales numbers may look like for the next 3 months, as most contracts would close within that time frame. Quite frankly, based on pending contracts it wouldn’t surprise me if we saw above 220 sales per month over the next quarter. That isn’t something many would have expected considering we have not cracked the Mendoza line in nearly six months. Oh, for those unfamiliar with what the Mendoza line means, it’s an old baseball tag for a player who hits below .200.

What are the causes for the turnaround, historic low interest rates, the federal tax credit, and yes, even pent up demand. However, I would not assume that all price segments will experience a lift, because of 734 contracts executed 473, of the homes were listed under $450,000. Meaning about 65% of all homes under contract on Staten Island had listed market prices below the $450,000 threshold. This is no surprise either, as a significant part of the market is either first time home buyers who are seeking affordable priced homes, and investors looking for bank owned property and short sales. At this point, both sets of home buyers probably make up a significant amount of the market.

Breaking the tide¦some Staten Island neighborhoods have still seen gains in value year to date (YTD).

Taking the cake was Grasmere, Staten Island, which saw a rise of 4.05% in the Median Sales price (YTD) from $430,000 to $447,500, and a 5 ¼ (YTD) increase in the average sale price from $455,655 to 479,681 from the same period in 2008 . Even better was the average days on the market decreased over 14% (YTD) from 132 days to 112 days.

Apparently, broad based media reports that the sky was falling in real estate didn’t seem to keep buyers at bay here. It further proves that real estate markets sometimes come right down to the neighborhood.

For the most current reports on Staten Island neighborhood market conditions, you can always check back here at Staten Island Real Estate News, Advice and Info for the latest reports.
(Photo Right ©) One of many distinct homes found  in Grasmere, Staten Island.