There’s not much in the latest real estate report on the Queens market to make anyone looking for a turnaround in housing to be optimistic about.
Overall, sales and prices were both down in the fourth quarter of 2011 compared to the same time period the year before, and it took longer to sell homes, according to the quarterly report from Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate and the Miller Samuel appraisal firm, which is considered a gold standard in the industry.
The average, or mean, sale price for all homes in the borough fell 2.5 percent year-to-year, from $398,710 to $395, 264, the report found. The median SALES price dropped 7 percent, from $369,000 to $343,000, fueled by a surge in low-price co-op sales compared to higher-end real estate.
“The decline in the overall price indicators was primarily due to the large shift in the mix toward co-op sales, the lowest-priced property type,” the report said. “As buyers took advantage of record-low mortgage rates during the quarter, the lower-priced market quintiles saw larger year-over-year declines in median sales prices.”
Meanwhile the time it took to sell a home increased by just under 20 percent, from an average of 99 days to 119.
The full report is available at elliman.com and millersamuelv2.wpenginepowered.com. It includes, among other data, breakdowns of sales in particular regions of Queens.
