Home sales are taking longer

Buyers bide their time, but eventually pay close to sellers' asking prices

By Tommy Hallissey

Janet Knight wasn't about to settle. She set an asking price for her one-bedroom co-op in the Oxford House on Johnson Avenue, and she wasn't going to budge. She had to wait nine months before she got an offer, but her patience was rewarded when her home was recently scooped up for a premium that will enable her to move up to a Junior-4 in Central Riverdale.

For sellers like Ms. Knight, the average time on the Riverdale real estate market has risen sharply in the last two years, jumping 98 percent - from 57 days to 113 days - according to statistics of house, condo and co-op sales maintained and analyzed by The Riverdale Press.

The housing market (pdf)

"The cycle now takes five or six months to sell," said Fred Levy, a broker with Halstead, which has 20 agents in Riverdale. "A year ago it was a shorter cycle."

In the three neighborhoods with the most transactions, Central Riverdale, North Riverdale and Spuyten Duyvil, time on the market skyrocketed from 2005 to 2007. In Spuyten Duyvil, the average time on the market jumped 153 percent. Central Riverdale's percentage increased a little more than 100 percent, while North Riverdale rose a little less than 80 percent. Since there were so few sales in Fieldston and the Estate Area, it wouldn't be fair to make comparisons.

"Each case is individual, sometimes we have sellers with a price stuck in their head and they are intransigent," said Vivian Oleen, a broker with Sopher Realty. "When something is pressing on the seller then they become very reasonable."

The time a property was on the market hit record lows in 2005 at the peak of the national housing bubble. Recently, sellers needed the most patience in Spuyten Duyvil, where homes sat on the market for 129 days in 2007. In North Riverdale, the hottest year for sales was 2004, when homes were snapped up within an average of 49 days.

"My office has a couple of properties that have been on the market too long, far too long," said Ms. Oleen. She took issue with the stated time on the market in The Press, because she said only the time a property is with its final broker is listed. A property may have been on the market for a while with an earlier broker. "In realty, we have a prayer," Ms. Oleen quipped, "we say, 'may you be the second brokerage on a property.'"

With the exception of 2005, the difference in the selling and asking price increased every year throughout Riverdale from 2000 to 2007. In 2000, when average prices were lower, there was only a $12,784 gap in asking and selling price. By 2007, the gap widened to $25,224, an increase of 97 percent.

"Right now, it's a buyer's market," said Mr. Levy. "They are sitting on the fence waiting for good deals. They are not jumping on anything."

Gabriel Voiles defied the statistics, plunging into the real estate market for just two or three weeks before buying a property in Central Riverdale. "The real estate values are rising faster than we could save money," he said. Mr. Voiles and his wife, Sara Yu, were fixated on moving to a Central Riverdale co-op because of the proximity to the No. 1 subway line.

"By New York City standards it was a bit of a buyer's market," said Mr. Voiles. But he still couldn't walk all over the seller. He offered a modest drop from the asking price, but the seller stood firm. "We really loved the place," he said.

The greatest difference in asking and selling prices occurred in Central Riverdale with an average $28,481 separation in 2007. It was a 154-percent increase from 2000. Spuyten Duyvil saw a more modest 65-percent increase. North Riverdale fluctuated wildly, but ended slightly down.

"The difference between the asking and selling price has gotten bigger," said Mr. Levy. "In Central Riverdale, the prices are closer together than North Riverdale."

Ms. Oleen said brokers for The Arbor, a building nearing completion along the Henry Hudson Parkway in Central Riverdale, have been instructed to accept lower offers, and their commissions were doubled because of the down market.

The average difference between asking and selling price increased 7 percent last year, which, coupled with the rise in time on the market, is another indicator of a slow down.

"Since 2000 we have had a very good market, prices went up, not precipitously, but incrementally," said Ms. Oleen. "Last year we hit a plateau, then things began to drop a bit. I had sellers calling to drop prices."

The average sale price of houses in Riverdale dropped 16 percent in 2007, compared to a statewide decrease of 4 percent, according to the New York State Association of Realtors. Looking at all properties, including co-ops and condos, prices decreased a mere 4 percent from 2006 to 2007.

Brad Trebach, broker and lawyer with Trebach Realty, said there was only so much worth gleaning from statistics. "If you just compare prices, square footage and time on the market, you're not even getting into bedroom count, street location, amenities, aesthetics, condition, school zoning, and whether or not an owner was under financial or other pressures to sell, such as a divorce or an unexpected job relocation," he explained.

This is part of the March 6, 2008 online edition of The Riverdale Press.

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