October Snow Storm Buffalo Leaves Home Sales Out in the Cold

An unusually early snow storm - even by Buffalo’s standards - has caused millions of dollars in damages to the city.

Chief among them would be the housing market, as such weather doesn’t exactly inspire people to apply for mortgages in the area.

Numbers back this up: Sales of single-family homes fell by 15.6 percent (to 672 ) last month, compared to October 2005 when 797 transactions were closed. That is the lowest sales figure for the month recorded by the Buffalo Niagara Association of Realtors in the past nine years.

The storm struck the Buffalo area October 12 and 13, knocking out power and phone service, damaging homes and forcing some school districts to close for up to a week. A month later, the cleanup effort continues.

The bright spot for the real estate industry was a rise in median prices, which jumped 6.5 percent year-over-year. BNAR reported median prices at $96,925, up from $91,000 last year. That price also represents an all-time high for the month.

Average prices did fall by 1.2 percent to $117,956 from $119,350 a year earlier.

Total dollar volume also declined to a five-year low of $79.27 million. In October 2005, total single-family home sales were $95.12 million, the best ever for that month.

BNAR said new listings dipped to 1,380, down 8.6 percent from 1,510 the previous year. This spurs hope that home loan applicants are returning to the year and the snow simply results in a glitch in their demand.