VALHALLA, NY-A surge in sales at his development projects in Westchester, especially those along the Hudson River shoreline, has given luxury homebuilder Martin Ginsburg cause to believe the multifamily market has begun to turn around. Ginsburg, a principal of Ginsburg Development Cos. based here, says that sales were down the first three months of this year.
However, "April and May sales look like they are going to exceed last year," Ginsburg says. Based on those monthly results and expected strong sales in June, he thinks "as a company the market is rebounding."
He notes that his firm's developments along the Hudson River have had strong buyer activity of late. For example, the firm's Hudson Pointe development in Poughkeepsie posted 25 contracts in its first month of sales in April. The firm's Riverbend development in Peekskill had a surge in sales and at its recently opened Bayside building at its Harbors at Haverstraw shoreline community in Rockland County, the firm has signed 23 contracts in about six weeks. The firm also reports that construction on its Ichabod's Landing waterfront development in Sleepy Hollow is nearing completion. Rounding out its waterfront developments, Ginsburg and Cappelli Enterprises of Valhalla have not begun construction as yet on their joint venture Harbor Square waterfront project in Ossining.
Ginsburg, who is planning to break ground on the high-rise the Pinnacle" development in White Plains later this year, says that his riverfront projects are experiencing the strongest sales volume out of all his projects on the market at the moment. He adds that his non-waterfront developments have been producing consistent sales. For example, the Fairways at Wallkill development in Middletown (Orange County), which has been on the market since last fall, has been securing five to seven contracts a month of late and is close to selling out its first phase.
Ginsburg says the residential real estate market was until recently accelerating, especially in terms of pricing, at a pace that was unsustainable for the long term. He notes that the "market is adjusting" and that the multifamily new construction market is in a "pause" mode. He says that while the market is in transition, he and other homebuilders are holding the line on pricing even though material and land acquisition costs have gone up.
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