…The first quarter Queens housing market was a
period of rising prices after an extended period
of stability, declining inventory, and rising sales.
The bottom of the multi-year decline of listing
inventory may have been reached in the fourth
quarter of 2013. Although the first quarter listing
inventory increased 7% from the prior quarter
bottom to 5,617, it was the second lowest level
recorded in this report series since 2005 and
13.5% below prior year levels. The number of
sales jumped 32.8% to 3,156 from the prior
year quarter, the highest first quarter total in 6
years. The combination of declining inventory
and rising sales led to a faster market pace. The
absorption rate, the number of months to sell
all listing inventory at the current pace of sales,
fell to 5.3 months, less than half the 11.2 month
average over the past 5 years…