Wondering how much real estate costs in each town? We pulled the data for 2014 from the Hudson Gateway MLS, based on all the single family home sales in each school district. But what fun is a bunch of tables? We decided to color code the maps, just to see how it looks.
The most expensive median sales price, where the most middle-of-the-road home sold for over a million dollars, is a dark maroon color. It gets lighter as the prices lower, until a median of $500,000-$600,000, when the color is a light yellow. For the next range, $400,000 - $500,000, the color is a light green. Then when the color gets darker as the median sales price lowers. So areas with the darkest green shade have the lowest median sales price, at a range of under $200,000.
Westchester County has the most colorful map by far out of the 4 lower and mid Hudson Counties. There is a total of 8 school districts where the median sales price of a home was over $1 million.
The most expensive was Rye City School District, with a median sales price of $1,835,000. There was no one ultra expensive house sold in Rye City but in 2014 there were 21 homes sold for over $3 million, and 4 over $5 million. (And honestly, over $5 million should be in the ultra-expensive category for most places. But maybe not in Westchester?)
The school district with the lowest median sales price was Peekskill, at $255,250. The cheapest homes sold in Peekskill were $80,000. They did require a complete renovation, and were good deals for anyone looking for a fixer upper.
Please note that the median sales price was for a single family home, meaning a detached house or townhouse. The numbers would be different if we included condos and coops. For more information about each town and school district, please visit the their individual pages.
Putnam County is located just North of Westchester County. You can see that the median sales price in Mahopac and Putnam Valley Schools districts, with a median sales price of $334,750 and $287,500, is lower than the Somers, Yorktown, and Lakeland School District in Northern Westchester. The property taxes are usually a little lower in Putnam County as well.
The Rockland County map looks rather plain. All the colors are green, and the school district with the highest median sales price was South Orangetown at $459,000. To purchase a home at $459,000 with 20% down (or around $100,000 with some fees added), the monthly mortgage payment is around $1800 plus taxes and insurance.
Given its good schools, relatively reasonable real estate prices and close proximity to jobs in New York City and North Jersey, Rockland County is a popular area for homebuyers.
Orange County New York is the most "green" among the four counties we looked at, mostly because of its distance from NYC, and fewer residents commute there for work.
The most expensive school district is Tuxedo, which has very few homes - and only 20 sold in 2014. Many of the homes in Tuxedo are in private gated communities, and many are mansions from the late 1800s, when the area was a popular vacation spot for New Yorkers looking for a lake-side estate.
Other than Warwick, all the other school districts in Orange County has a median home price of lower than $300,000. To buy a $250,000 home, assuming you leave a 20% down payment (or around $60,000 down payment, including some fees and costs), the monthly mortgage payment is around $950 plus taxes and insurance.
Looking for the perfect home in the perfect place? Chances are you'll want to check here first.