1st Quarter Trend Report

Region #1  -  Baldwin, Freeport, Hempstead, Roosevelt & Uniondale

SALES ACTIVITY

During the 1st quarter of 2010, we saw the number of home sales in the area decline by 48 percent to 152 units, from the 225 homes sales sold during the prior quarter.  The number of home sales was greater in the 1st quarter 2010 as compared to the same period last year.  Sales spiked during the 2nd, 3rd and 4th quarter of 2009 as a result of the housing tax credit that was introduced by the federal government.  The tax credit was set to expire in November-2009 before it was extended to April-2010 and as such, we expect to see strong numbers again in the 2nd quarter.

PRICING

The median home prices in the region continues to decline after a period of some stability.  The median sales price during the first quarter 2010 is $233,000, down 11.39 percent from the prior quarter and down 8.46 percent from the same period last year.  Like the sales activity report, it appears that housing prices in the region showed a modest gain during the period of time when the housing tax credit was available to the consumer (prior to the extension).  

LISTING INVENTORY

The number of homes listed for sale continues to increase putting further downward pressure on the market.  In all five (5) cities that are part of this analysis, inventory jumped during the 4th-quarter of 2009 and only started to plateau during the latter part of the 1st quarter.  Baldwin saw the smallest increase of 125% while Hempstead and Freeport saw listings increase by more than 400 percent.