April shows strong sales: Corcoran

April marked the Corcoran Group’s strongest month in residential sales since October 2007, according to an internal market report.

Condominium sales volume increased 139 percent compared to April 2009, while co-op sales volume jumped 91 percent, according to the report, which is based on Corcoran listings only. Last month, Corcoran agents saw 477 signed condo contracts and 689 signed co-op contracts.

Tatiana Cames, a senior vice president with Corcoran, said that the report was consistent with the activity she’s seen on the ground and that she doesn’t expect the market to dip far from the current level any time soon.

Between April 2009 and April this year condo inventory dropped 28 percent to 4,476 and co-op inventory dropped 19 percent to 4,290 listings.

“I think the lack of inventory will keep things busy for the next few months,” Cames said, adding that larger units are attracting the most interest from buyers.

“What we need most, because they’re moving so fast, are three-bedrooms,” Cames said, adding that she believes there is a lack of adequate inventory in units of that size.

Cames said that she, personally, signed two contracts in April.

But sales activity and dwindling inventory aren’t the only reasons to celebrate, according to the Corcoran report. The average condo sales price was $1.69 million in April, up 10 percent from March and up 21 percent year-over-year. Among co-op units, the average sales price was $947,024 last month, up 6 percent over March and 16 percent over April 2009.