By Ivan Pereira
The majority of Queens neighborhoods have seen drastic drops in the sales prices of homes, a new report released last week indicated.
The Prudential Douglas Elliman report for the second quarter of 2009 found the average sales price for a Queens home fell 11.5 percent from $448,397 from the same period in 2008 to $396,756 this year.
The median sales price also took a hit, slipping from $420,000 in the second quarter of 2008 to $362,000 this year, a 13.8 percent drop, according to the report.
The number of sales dropped more than 14 percent from 11,783 during the second quarter of 2008 to 10,100 during the same period this year .
“The decline in inventory is indicative of many sellers who do not have the urgency to sell and have opted to list their properties when the market improves,” the report said.
In southern Queens, which leads the city in the number of foreclosures, according to a June report by the City Council, the average sales price for a home for the second quarter was $358,085, a 15.4 percent drop from the $423,292 price from the same period last year, the report said. The median sales price for that area plummeted 20.9 percent from $455,000 last year to $360,000 in the second quarter of 2009.
The average sales price for homes in western Queens went from $462,829 in the second quarter of 2008 to $393,200 in the same period this year, a decline of 15 percent, according to the report. The drop in the median sales prices was more than double that of the average sales price, sliding from $565,000 in 2008 to $388,500 the same period this year.
Northwest Queens had a 13.8 percent decline in average sales prices, from $561,959 in the second quarter of 2008 to $370,209 in the April-to-June period this year. The median sales price in the area dropped from $540,000 in the second quarter of 2008 to $481,325 this year, the report said.
The average sales price in northeast Queens also declined between the second quarter of 2008 and the same period in 2009 from $493,607 to $424,658, a 14 percent decline. The median sales price for the area during the second quarter of 2009 was $357,770, a 29.8 percent drop from the same period last year, when the price was $510,000, according to the report.
Central Queens homes had the smallest decline in home sales prices, with the average edging down from $381,219 in the second quarter of 2008 to $370,209 in the latest three-month period, the report said. Median sales prices increased for the area by 7.1 percent from $308,000 last year to $329,950 in the second quarter of 2009.
The Rockaways was the only region not to see any declines in average home prices, according to the report. Average sales prices increased 13.8 percent from $380,962 in the second quarter of 2008 to $433,664 in the same period this year. Median sales prices also rose 4.1 percent, from $375,000 in the second quarter of 2008 to $390,322 during the same period this year.
Reach reporter Ivan Pereira by e-mail at ipereira@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
