Syracuse, N.Y., Among Nation’s Healthiest Home Markets
According to Fortune magazine, Syracuse ranks fifth on the top 10 places to own real estate in the country and number one in the Northeast.
The magazine expects prices on homes to increase almost 5 percent next year, and nearly 4 percent in 2008, which would turn much of Upstate New York into a seller’s market.
The news isn’t surprising to local Realtors, because while the rest of the country has been seeing a lag in the market, homes here continue to sell, even in the off season. This is because a New York mortgage remains viable for buyers in the region, unlike further downstate and elsewhere in the U.S., where home prices have accelerated beyond control.
The real estate sections of local newspapers prove that plenty of Central New Yorkers are bucking the trend and buying and selling homes now, before spring comes, and the competition and prices get stiffer.
“The buyers have a lot of choices at the moment, mortgage interest rates are great, there’s not as much competition now as there will be in March, April, May and June,” says Syracuse realtor Susan Wilson.
She says that, coupled with the ease of online house hunting and Internet mortgage applications, an increase in people looking to buy real estate in the city as an investment, will likely make Fortune’s estimates of home sale increases a reality come spring.
“If you’re selling in this market, and you can wait until the spring market starts and go through the spring market than you may do better. But then on the other hand, momentum is shifting toward sellers, and most people who are selling also want to buy, so you can’t do it on both ends,” Wilson said.
That’s part of the chore of being one of the top 5 hottest home markets.
Also in Upstate New York, Rochester made Fortune’s list of places to own real estate, ranking seventh nationally and second in the northeast. Realtors project you’ll see those increases starting in early March. Meanwhile, the Albany housing market is projected to see modest declines.