Columbia County draws lifestyle buyers from New York City and beyond. But with new residential construction nearly absent, scarcity is reshaping how properties are valued, marketed, and sold.
The United States is in the middle of a housing shortage. Decades of underbuilding, rising construction costs, and restrictive land-use policies have left millions of Americans competing for a shrinking pool of available homes. In response, builders have ramped up activity in Sun Belt metros, exurban growth corridors, and secondary cities hungry for new supply. Yet not every market is following that script.
Why New Construction Stalled
New subdivisions, infill development, and mixed-use projects are reshaping suburbs and secondary cities alike. In Columbia County, New York, that dynamic barely exists.
The Hudson Valley county attracted significant buyer interest during and after the pandemic. Yet that demand has not translated into new supply. Daniel ‘Dan’ Mahar, founder and principal broker at Mahar Real Estate in Hudson, New York, says the absence of new development is one of the county’s most persistent market realities.
“There’s very little new construction in Columbia County,” Mahar said. “It’s probably our biggest deficiency. There’s been attempts at different developments, but very, very few new homes are being built. And if they are, it’s because whatever was there had to be removed completely. There are no major developments coming through.”
The reason is not regulatory resistance. It is structural. Columbia County remains primarily agricultural, and unlike the counties closer to New York City — Westchester, Dutchess, and Putnam — it does not draw commuters. Its economy centers on tourism, healthcare, and remote workers, not the kind of sustained population influx that drives residential development.
“People aren’t relocating here for jobs,” Mahar said. “The hospital right here in Hudson is the biggest employer, and most of those people already have apartments or small houses. The demand for new construction just isn’t as high.”
After the Pandemic Boom
Columbia County experienced a sharp run-up in activity and pricing between 2020 and 2022, driven by buyers leaving New York City during the pandemic. Mahar describes that period as a structural anomaly comparable to the post-9/11 surge of 2001. The buyers who arrived then, whom Mahar calls “covid babies,” are now reconsidering.
“What we’re seeing now is a lot of those homeowners are reconsidering that decision,” he said. “They were part-time neighbors for a while, then they became full-time neighbors. Now they’re considering it’s time to sell. The sellers now are like, ‘I’m just not into it anymore. I want to go back to New York.’ That’s been our trend the last two to three years.”
Some of those properties have been converted to short-term rentals or investment holdings. But the overall pattern, Mahar says, is a market that has stabilized after an unusual period rather than one in decline.
“Our sales have increased year over year. Inventory is back up. It’s actually been pretty steady.”
Inside Hudson’s Local Market
Within the broader county, the city of Hudson functions as its own distinct market. Mahar describes it as “a bubble within a bubble,” with pricing and buyer profiles that diverge sharply from the surrounding rural towns.
The most active corridor is the stretch of Warren Street between Third and Seventh streets, where commercial storefronts, restaurants, and mixed-use buildings converge. One building on Warren Street is currently listed at $3.8 million. A step off Warren Street, prices drop significantly — but Mahar sees that as opportunity. State, Allen, Union, and Columbia streets in the 300-to-700 block range are what he considers the most attractive buys in the city right now.
“Those are the hottest properties in the city of Hudson,” he said. “The best to buy, best to fix, best to flip, best to own. Everything is within a very close circle of you.”
“To really hit a home run in downtown Hudson, you’re looking at least $1.1 million to be finished and nice,” Mahar said. “But the second you get off Warren Street, you can pick things up in the four and five hundreds. If you put the money in, you will get it back.”
That calculus played out in a recent listing Mahar handled — a 3,000-square-foot ranch house in Hudson that had not changed hands since 1999. With no digital records, no listing photos, and no comparable sales data readily available, pricing was a challenge.
“We went with $725,000,” Mahar said. “It wound up going for $750,000, within 12 hours, with a man from Santa Fe who flew here to see it instantly.”
For buyers with smaller budgets, rural properties in towns like Copake and Hillsdale offer renovation upside. Mahar cites aging infrastructure — failing boilers, inadequate ventilation, and mold — as the most frequent deal killers in older rural stock.
“The oldest house I ever sold was 1742 construction,” he said. “When you have something like that, you’re dealing with things that were 100 years ago, but you still have to have them addressed.”
Rates Are Not the Issue
Mahar pushes back on the conventional narrative that interest rates are the dominant force shaping buyer decisions in Columbia County.
“Realistically, when you have somebody that’s changing their lives, a 1% rate is not going to affect that,” he said. “They’re making a 30-year decision.”
The more relevant factor, he argues, is whether a property justifies a lifestyle change. Most buyers in Hudson proper are second-home or investment buyers transacting in cash or through 1031 exchanges. Rate sensitivity is concentrated among local buyers in rural towns. Across the county, Mahar says the fundamentals remain sound.
“I firmly believe that most properties do not have to rely on the market,” he said. “They rely on the marketing. That’s more important than the actual dictation of the market.”
The Next 12 Months
Looking ahead, Mahar is watching buyer sentiment tied to national uncertainty. He notes a recurring pattern in which events in New York City briefly accelerate interest in the Hudson Valley before subsiding — and says the current climate is producing a similar effect.
“The serious buyers — not just from New York, but locally and in general — they haven’t left,” he said. “They are educated. They are more selective.”
His edge, he says, comes from being a local. Mahar grew up in the area, can walk from his office to listings in Hudson, and built a team of 10 agents since launching Mahar Real Estate in the summer of 2024, following five years at Coldwell Banker. He holds a degree in Philosophy and Religious Studies from Pace University and spent 10 years as a stand-up comedian before entering real estate — a background, he says, that shaped how he handles rejection and uncertainty.
“Being from here, walking the streets, knowing what’s coming — that’s what will affect my personal market the most,” he said. “Having information that the internet doesn’t.”
He leaves his agents with one principle.
“The only constant is change,” Mahar said. “As long as you adapt and change, you’re going to continue to do well.”
