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Partly Cloudy Bellmore-Merrick housing market on the road to recovery
Following six years of incremental gains in Bellmore-Merrick home values after the Great Recession of 2007-08, when the housing market virtually collapsed, sale prices are finally starting to climb, real estate experts say.
The uptick began sometime between last September and November, and prices have risen ever since. Experts say three factors are driving prices:
n After years of putting off buying, many young couples are now eagerly searching for their first homes.
n There are relatively few homes for sale in the Bellmore-Merrick area.
n Interest rates remain low, so buyers can get mortgages.
“There are plenty of buyers,” said Marlena Schein, manager and associate broker at Coldwell Banker Homes Realty, which has offices in Merrick, Wantagh and Massapequa Park. “There are more buyers than sellers. Prices are moving up. They’ve been going up slowly for a while. Sellers are more confident now.”
Laura Sporny, the sales manager for Beechwood Homes’ new Country Pointe development in North Bellmore, said, “It’s unbelievable. We opened up Country Pointe at North Bellmore approximately six months ago, and we’re 60 percent sold out. There are a total of 79 lots, and they feature four- and five-bedroom single-family homes with full basements and two-car garages.
“A lot of young families with children have taken an interest in these homes,” Sporny continued. “They love the new designs, with gourmet kitchens, 42-inch upper cabinets, GE stainless-steel appliances, nine-foot ceilings.”
Country Pointe homes start at $719,000. “The only thing we wish is that we had more lots…,” Sporny said. “We expect to be sold out by the end of the summer.”
“We have buyers coming out of the woodwork,” said Louise Pitlake, associate broker at Douglas Elliman Real Estate of Merrick. “They’re afraid of the interest rates going up.”
Pitlake said she is starting to see bidding wars for properties, which she hadn’t seen for some time. She described one such exchange among three potential buyers that drove up the price of a modest home by $15,000.
