Charles Rutenberg Realty Broker/Owner Joe Moshé Says Long Island Real Estate Market Will Take Years to Recover
Joe Moshé, Broker/Owner,Charles Rutenberg Realty, says that the Residential Real Estate market has been hit hard over the past eight years and, with foreclosures outnumbering sales two to one during that time period, he does not see any recovery in the local housing market anytime soon. Mr. Moshé added that Hurricane Sandy, rising unemployment and business owners’ worries about the economy may mean a prolonged housing slump.
According to data from LI Profiles of Brightwaters, home sales declined, from nearly 49,000 units in 2005 to 21,847 in November 2012. Meanwhile, foreclosures during the month of November 2011 were at 13,132 — more than twice the figure of 6,249 in 2005. Hurricane Sandy also impacted sales, with only 1,885 sales closings in November 2012 — an 11.1% drop compared to the previous month — and a 26.1% in pending sales, from 2,489 in October 2012 to 1,838 in November 2012.
“Home sales on Long Island have been negatively impacted and Hurricane Sandy did not help matters much,” Mr. Moshé said. “As soon as the housing bubble burst, many homeowners who initially did not qualify for a mortgage quickly found themselves underwater; as home values decreased, they owed more than what their houses were worth. As a result, they were unable to make their mortgage payments and many of them went into foreclosure.”
In order to avoid foreclosure, many homeowners entered into short sales. “Charles Rutenberg Realty has currently launched its Short Sales Division in which our Agents learn the intricacies of these untraditional sales and how to avoid the pitfalls associated with these transactions,” Mr. Moshé said.
Over the past year, unemployment on Long Island has risen and the job market has seen fewer jobs available. According to the New York State Department of Labor, unemployment rose from 6.8% to 7.1% during those 12 months. At the same time, 8,100 jobs were lost. Mr. Moshé says that, with more business owners holding off on hiring more people, the housing market will suffer.
“If companies are not hiring, then nobody will be able to earn that income that could be used toward buying a house,” he said. “That means more prospective homebuyers will still be on the fence as to whether or not they will make that big-ticket purchase. But with business owners’ down attitude on the economy and the lenders’ strict requirements for large down payments and higher credit scores, these people will be on the fence for a long time. If the Long Island housing market improves, it won’t be for another couple of years.”
Charles Rutenberg Realty is one of the nation’s fastest-growing Agencies with more than 1,300 Agents on Long Island, Queens, Westchester, and Manhattan. For more information, call (516) 575-7500, or visitwww.crrli.com.
[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]http://rutenbergblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/NEW-JoeHeadshot.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Joe Moshe, Broker/Owner, Charles Rutenberg Realty[/author_info] [/author]
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