Housing price skid seen after flat 3Q numbers

Sale prices of homes in Westchester are likely to drop over the final three months of the year following flat third-quarter numbers released Oct. 30.

The quarterly Westchester-Putnam Multiple Listing Service Inc. report recorded a third-quarter median price of $716,125 for a single-family house

The third-quarter figure was flattened by a dip in prices seen during September. Since the housing market starts slowing down this time Of year, Westchester home prices will likely drop during the fourth quarter, said P. Gilbert Mercurio, chief executive officer of the Westchester County Board of Realtors.

"I'd be very surprised if in the fourth quarter we don't see a reduction in the median sales price in this county," Mercurio said. Westchester is not immune to what is going on nationally and in the larger region. Maybe it got to us later, but it's here."

Mercurio insists that "it" is not the burst of a housing bubble long feared by economists. Westchester's housing market has not suffered the dramatic price drops seen in several West Coast markets, he said.

"It has become time for a correction, but not a bubble bursting by any means," Mercurio said.

He said the flat median price reflects sales activity dampened by fear of rising interest rates, the spring gas price spike, a stock market that didn't rise consistently until late summer and just-plain high housing prices.

The total number of homes sold in Westchester during the third quarter stood at 2,718, 17 percent below the same quarter last year. During the first nine months of 2006, the number of home sales that closed fell 12.4 percent to 7,053 units.

The inventory of homes available for sale rose 22 percent during the quarter to 7,326.

Other highlights:

* Condominiums: Median prices dipped 1.3 percent from a year ago, to $385,000, despite the county's boom in condo apartment development.

* Co-operatives: The remaining bright spot for Westchester's housing market. Medians rose 5.4 percent over last year to $195,000 - a reflection of greater demand from buyers, especially first-timers priced out of pricier housing, Mercurio said.

* 2-5 family houses: Almost flat at a median $572,450, down 0.4 percent from the third quarter of 2005.