It didn’t kill the residential real estate market. It just made it stronger. A high-performing mid-Hudson housing market persisted, last year, despite a lack of affordable inventory, according to the latest market data.
Bolstered by strong national and local economies and low interest rates, Orange, Sullivan and Ulster counties remained sellers’ markets for median-priced, single-family homes in 2019, local realtors said following the release of year-end figures.
Orange County’s sales total for single-family homes fell 4.2 percent to 3,672 in 2019, according to statistics from the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors.
But that’s because of a lack of homes to buy, local Realtors said. Indeed, the county’s inventory of unsold, listed single-family homes fell 5.9 percent to 1,588, down from 1,687 in 2018. That tally is nearly identical to 2017’s year-end total (1,686), but down from a whopping 2,115 as recently as 2016.
“When properties are priced well and marketed right, they go,” said Ron Garafalo, Middletown office manager for John J. Lease Realtors and HGAR’s 2019 president. “Some people are expanding their search, saying, ‘I want to be in this town, but I’m having trouble finding something, so I’ll consider this town as well.’”
Orange County’s median price for single-family homes, meanwhile, continued its steady rise, increasing 4.8 percent to $271,000, up from $258,000 in 2018, $243,000 in 2017 and $228,000 in 2016.
The average number of days on the market for Orange County’s single-family homes rose slightly (5.1 percent) to 116 days from 111 in 2018, but the 2019 year-end total is still down markedly from 165 days in 2016.
The local market for multi-family homes also gained strength, as investors looked for larger returns than low-interest certificates of deposit, Garafalo said. Two-hundred-forty-seven sold in Orange County in 2019, a 2.6 percent increase from 2018, as their median price skyrocketed 26.7 percent to $209,000 from $165,000.
Orange County’s condo market stayed hot in 2019, with the median price climbing 16.7 percent to $185,500, an increase from $174,600 in 2018, $164,200 in 2017 and $146,600 just a few years ago in 2016.
One reason for the condo market’s strength: Condos are a more affordable option for those who’ve been priced out of the single-family home market, especially first-time and younger buyers, local realtors and other experts said.
America’s median age of first-time home buyers is now 33, the oldest since recordkeeping dating to 1981, according to a recent National Association of Realtors report. And the median age of all home buyers hit a new record of age 47 in 2019, following a third straight year of increases. That overall median age was just 31 in 1981.
Young people face home-buying challenges
Rising home prices and a shortage of local affordable housing are compounding difficulties young people already faced buying a home because they’re over-leveraged from student loans and other debts, said Joe Czajka, a senior vice president with Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress, a local research institute.
And those challenges say nothing of the tighter lending standards banks have instituted since the last housing bubble burst. Czajka, who said he’s been calling the lack of affordable housing in the Hudson Valley “a crisis for the past 30 years,” thinks the shortage of affordable options is worse than ever.
Allowing younger generations to become home owners means local municipal leaders will have to allow for smaller subdivisions, lots and homes, and builders will have to accommodate young people’s differing tastes, too, Czajka said.
“The younger demographic, those 25 to 35, are not looking for the same home that those who are between 45 and 55 today are looking for,” Czajka added. Young people “don’t want the 3,000-square-foot McMansion on two to five acres. They want the 2,000- to 2,200-square-foot home on a half-acre or an acre.”
Nancy Hernandez agreed. The 27-year-old mother-to-be and her partner struggled for eight months to find the $167,000 single-family home that they’re in the process of closing on in Middletown after help from John J. Lease Realtors.
Most mid-Hudson homes on the market were far too big and unaffordable on her state corrections officer salary, she said, and then there was her partner’s student loan debt and her credit card debt to contend with.
“The homes that are listed are definitely above our comfortable price range, and we’re not looking to live outside (our range) where we have to work overtime,” said Hernandez, adding she didn’t even attempt to find a home in her hometown of Goshen given the prices and taxes. “And when the homes are on the cheaper side, you pretty much have to redo the whole home.”
Elsewhere in the mid-Hudson, in Sullivan County, the number of single-family homes sold fell 2.4 percent to 978 at the end of 2019 from 1,002 in 2018. A total of 954 sold in 2017 versus 924 in 2016.
The county’s median sales price for single-family homes continued its dramatic increase, from past recent years, reaching $142,000, an 11.3 percent gain from $128,000 in 2018, and up from $118,750 in 2017 and $116,000 in 2016. Year-end inventory fell 12.3 percent to 752 unsold, listed homes from 857 in 2018.
A typical Sullivan County single-family home spent 165 days on the market in 2019, about the same as 2018 (161), but down markedly from 201 days as recently as 2016.
Sullivan, Ulster markets remain hot
Sullivan County’s economy, like that of the state and neighboring Orange and Ulster counties, just keeps humming, said Bill Rieber, Thompson’s supervisor and co-owner of Rieber Realty in Monticello.
From new hiring at major employers like the Center for Discovery, to the addition of big employers such as the Resorts World Catskills casino and the Kartrite Resort & Indoor Waterpark, more Sullivan County residents have a shot at home ownership, Rieber said.
“I see people coming into the market now, who, three or four years ago, didn’t have a chance, didn’t have a job, didn’t make enough money, couldn’t get a mortgage,” said Rieber, adding that there’s room for the county’s median home price to rise much more.
Over in Ulster County, single-family home sales stayed nearly flat at 1,522 in 2019, versus 1,500 in 2018, according to the Ulster County Board of Realtors. But inventory fell precipitously (37 percent) to 357 unsold homes from 566 at year’s end in 2018, 596 in 2017 and 708 in 2016, indicating that the market remains robust.
A typical Ulster County single-family home spent 101 days on the market in 2019, down from 108 in 2018, 115 in 2017 and 134 in 2016.
In Ulster and Sullivan counties, respectively, sales of multi-family homes and condos are low, with single-family home sales making up the bulk of each county’s residential real estate market.
Homebuyers priced out of New York City and the lower Hudson Valley are increasingly discovering Ulster County’s high quality of life, relatively short commute and bucolic natural settings, said Harris Safier, an associate broker with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Hudson Valley Properties.
Among the most in-demand markets in the county, particularly for youngers homebuyers, are Kingston, Woodstock, Stone Ridge, New Paltz, Saugertis and the Town of Shandaken, Safier said.
“We’re still in a situation where the inventory for most price points is too low (in Ulster County), the demand is strong, and the interest rates are very appealing,” said Safier.
He added that Ulster County’s home prices, and the number of single-family homes sold, are likely at their highest levels since just before the housing market went bust about 13 years ago.
One local issue – a problem throughout the Hudson Valley – is that affordable housing options are being swallowed up by short-term rentals such as those offered via Airbnb, Safier and Pattern’s Czajka.
With the local economy and housing markets strong across the Hudson Valley, “We need more affordable product for a lot of the demographics … so younger people and others, who don’t make as high of an income, can enjoy home ownership,” said Maureen Halahan, president and CEO of the Orange County Partnership, a local economic development agency.
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