We have just released the latest edition of our Luxury Market Report detailing activity from the first quarter of 2012 for properties priced at $2 million or more in Westchester County and $1 million+ in Putnam and Dutchess counties.

With a very busy first quarter behind us, we are delighted to report on substantial improvements in the luxury marketplace in both the number of sales as well as the number of pending transactions.

Using Westchester County as our key indicator, there were significant increases in the number of total homes sold - up 28 percent and total dollar volume, also up 24 percent compared with the same period last year. In select price ranges, pending sales have risen remarkably versus a year ago, reflecting the unusually high level of activity we experienced in the luxury marketplace in February and March.

Houlihan Lawrence continued to dominate marketwide representing 51 percent of luxury sales throughout our three-county territory. [Read more]