WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER SETS RECORD VISITS FOR YEAR 7,017,658 VISITS! 2,098,003 VISITORS MADE 6 VISITS A DAY EVERY DAY. 63,330 UNIQUE VISITORS MADE 133,730 VISITS IN DECEMBER. WPCNR AVERAGED 17,284 VISITORS A WEEK, VISITING 31,270 TIMES.

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WPCNR REAL ESTATE REALITY. Statistics from the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors. Comment by John F. Bailey. April 8, 2019:

Westchester residential sales declined 3.5% in the first quarter of 2019 from the first quarter of 2018.

The median price (price of a middle of the market single family home the home most in demand) declined to $605,000 from $612,500 a year ago. Sales of Single Family Homes declined 5.6% from last March.

Buyers are considering co-ops and 2 to 4 family homes more than single family residences and condos..

The 2 TO 4 Family Home  median price went up over $100,000 13.8%  to $535 ,000, up from $419,052 a year ago. The average price of a 2-4: $551,007, an astounding advance of 16.2% (to this reporter). Aside: it remains to be determined whether these are speculative sales by real estate investors, or actual first home buyers.

Condos declined 1.5% in sales but gained in price with a median sale of $360,000 up 2.5% from March 31, 2018. The average condo sale was $426,251 up 2.5% over a year ago.

Co-ops hummed going up 9.7% in price (median: $170,000 up $9,000 from $155,000 from the end of last March. Average price of a coop: $193,968, about $5,000 more than last year at this time.

Single Family Homes– the in-demand market —not so good.

The Single Family Homes were down 5.6% at 983 sales, 41 homes less 1,024 in last year’s 1^st quarter. The midpoint sales figure of all sales of Single Fams, half above, half below sold above or below this price was $605,000. Down from $612,500 from a year ago, a 1.2% decline.

Average price of single family home this first quarter $758,219, down  8.1% from a year go. The higher average price reflects sales of more expensive homes inflating the median figure of $605,000 to $758,219.

The Hudson Gateway Assocation of Realtors notes:

“Westchester and Rockland Counties, the areas with the highest price points, saw an easing of critical inventory shortages which could translate to healthier spring sales a result of  better product (housing) selection and an easing of upward pressure on prices.

“Overall the entire service area (Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Orange and Sullivan Counties)  is experiencing a high level of economic activity and very low rates of unemployment. These factors coupled with particularly attractive mortgage rates are indications that the housing market should continue on solid ground.”

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WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. From the White Plains City School District. April 7, 2019:

On the day before the White Plains Board of Education vote to adopt the 2019-2000 School Budget tomorrow night for presentation to the voters May 21, the Superintendent of Schools has announced the state has increased aid to the school district by $1.5 Million

Dr. Joseph Ricca, the Superintendent wrote WPCNR this morning;

“We were very pleased to learn that the final ( NY state) budget included an increase in state aid for the WPCSD. We are grateful for our elected officials’ advocacy for the WPCSD.

The allocation of funds now brings the district closer to being fully funded with regard to the foundation aid phase in.

With the addition of $1.5 million, we are now nearing 57% of the state aid phase in.

In the proposed budget, the proposed levy increase remains within the tax cap (3.44%). Unfortunately, while very helpful to the district, the additional state aid would not offset the levy.

We do anticipate that the budget to budget increase will remain below 3.9%.”

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WPCNR MEDIA GO ROUND. From Westfair Communications. Edited April 3, 2019:

Two locally driven media enterprises – Daily Voice and Westfair Communications, which publishes the Westchester County Business Journal, the Fairfield County Business Journal and WAG magazine – have announced a new collaboration www.DailyVoicePlus.com . Regarding this partnership, Dee DelBello, Westfair’s publisher, predicts, “Viewers and subscribers to Daily Voice Plus will soon realize the value of our two organizations working together to bring them complete local news, daily. During the course of our collaboration, we plan on bringing more and more exciting programs that will not only be useful but entertaining.” Daily Voice was founded by Carl Tucker in 2010 and is the premier provider of local suburban news in the New York metro region. Ted Yang, president of Cantata Media, which now operates Daily Voice, enthused , “Our new subscription product will bring together the best local reporting in lifestyle, politics and business to Fairfield and Westchester counties. We will go deeper and show the full local picture that our neighbors care about.” The two media companies are coming together to present a dynamic combination of their talents in an exclusive digital format in what will become the go-to source for complete local news. The new partnership will pair the ubiquitous Daily Voice’s cutting-edge 36 local website news coverages which reaches 700,000 Unique Visitors and Westfair Communications’ longtime experience and expertise in covering the concerns and issues affecting local businesses plus profiles of business movers and shakers along with its sophisticated and entertaining feature stories. Debuting today, this website will offer premium content from both these operations, drawing on the straight-ahead news of Daily Voice network combined with the specialty reporting of Westfair Communications, including its award-winning lifestyle publication, WAG magazine, which is designed for a luxury readership. Both organizations, worth noting, are locally based, locally reported and locally edited. Collaboration is not new in the news industry, joint operating agreements have existed for years among newspapers and television stations. Daily Voice Plus will mark a groundbreaking regional collaboration, the teaming of an entirely online news source with Westfair Communications, which offers its business journals and sister publication WAG magazine in both print and online editions.  This collaboration is designed to be beneficial to each news organization as well as to local readers, bringing the skills and specialties of Westfair Communications to a venture that capitalizes on the reach of Daily Voice. The Business Journals were founded more than 50 years by a descendant of Joseph Pulitzer, David Moore. To this day, throughout its ownership history, the Journals have remained the only local business newspapers covering all the breaking business news in real estate, economic development, education, hospitality, heath care, technology – everything impacting Fairfield and Westchester counties and the Hudson Valley.  Profiles of entrepreneurs, business owners and other successful ventures – along with investigative work – are all captured in the Journals, which have extended their service through hosting business events and a vital website.