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Albany, NY - Recent Figures for New Home Sales Suggest Climb Gaining Steam

Posted on: May 06, 2012 09:10:25 AM

In the Albany, NY market, sales of new homes climbed year-over-year in January, and there were signals of strengthening market conditions as the percentage hike was an greater than December 2011. New home sales saw a hike of 84.0% from the year earlier to 46. This followed a 3.2% rise year-over-year in December.

A total of 593 new homes were sold during the 12 months that ended in January, up from 572 for the year that ended in December.

New home sales accounted for 8.6% of overall housing sales. This is up from the 4.9% of sales a year earlier. After dropping in December from a year earlier, sales of new and existing homes increased year-over-year in January.

Pricing and Mortgage Trends

Average price of newly sold homes saw a 13.2% boost year-over-year in January to $362,189 per unit. This is an about-face from the 6.6% decline in December from a year earlier.

For newly sold homes, the average mortgage size fell year-over-year in contrast to average price of new homes. In January 2012, the average mortgage size on newly sold homes saw a 2.1% decline from a year earlier. In December 2011, average mortgage size on newly sold homes saw a 12.8% decline from a year earlier. The overall percentage of sale price that was being financed declined 12.3 percentage points year-over-year to 78.8% in January 2012.

Other Market Trends

The share of new home sales made up by attached units has risen while the share belonging to single-family homes has fallen. The share of new home sales belonging to attached units increased from 4.0% of sales in January 2011 to 6.5% of sales in January 2012. At the same time, the share belonging to single-family homes fell to 93.5% of sales from 96.0% of sales.

The average unit size of newly sold homes sank 35.3% year-over-year to 1,509 square feet in January 2012. This decline was opposite the price rise, a pattern also seen in December 2011 when the average size of newly sold homes dipped 7.2% to 1,993 square feet.

Foreclosures and real estate owned (REO) sales did not appear to be dragging the market. Out of all existing home sales, foreclosures combined with REO sales represented 10.5% of sales. In January 2011, they accounted for 14.9%. The percentage of existing home sales involving foreclosures went from 5.7% in January 2011 to 6.2% in January 2012 and REO sales as a percentage of existing home sales declined to 4.3% from 9.2% a year earlier.

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