There’s little sign that the hot market for real estate in Kingston in 2019 is slowing. The latest Multiple Listing Service data from the first half of the third quarter of the year confirms that the substantial increase in median sales price over the previous year is continuing.
The Kingston results — which show markedly greater increases in median sales prices as well as total sales volume over the past year — are atypical. Most Ulster County jurisdictions have been reporting year-to-year increases in median sales prices in the single digits.
There were 19 Kingston sales in the month and a half ending Aug. 15 last year and 33 in the same period in 2019. The median sales price during that period in 2018 was $159,900 as compared to $189,900 in 2019. Sixteen of the 33 closed sales were for $200,000 or more this year, whereas last year only seven of the 19 recorded sales in the period crossed that threshold. The top sales price in the period this year was for $630,000 versus $350,000 last year. The median number of days on the market for sales was 49 days, down slightly from last year’s 54 days.
With the greater sales activity, total sales in July and the first half of August was $7.4 million this year as contrasted with last year’s total sales of only $3.3 million. For the first two and a half quarters, the total sales of Kingston real estate listed by MLS was $28 million this year versus $19.1 million last year. There have been 130 sales so far in 2019 versus 107 in the same period last year.
Also this week, the first former St. Joseph’s School at 235 Wall St. and an adjacent former convent at 59 Pearl St. have gone on the market. The most recent St. Joseph’s School still being used by Kingston Catholic School is not on the market. Listed by SVN Deegan-Collins Commercial Realty, there’s an asking price of $1.795 million for the two structures, built in 1912 and totaling about 24,000 feet on a 0.3-acre parcel. Stained glass windows in the convent will be removed and are not for sale. The realtors’ website notes the building is zoned “as of right” for apartments but hints that rezoning “could be sought” for other uses, including a hotel and/or condominiums.
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