Western New York Housing Market Stable

The first day of spring has come and gone, and with it, the opening bell of the busiest time of year for the Western New York mortgage market.

Despite widespread fear that the national housing bubble is about to burst, local officials say the market is stable, citing only a small decrease in the number of homes sold and an increase in home prices across Chautauqua County.

“It’s a good time to buy a house,” said Earl Johnson, Chautauqua County Board of Realtors president.

The New York State Association of Realtors recently released data showing a 6.3 percent decrease in sales last year across the state, but the 101,131 homes sold in 2006 was only 3.1 percent less than 2004 figures.

Real estate officials say that means the housing market is slowing down, but New York mortgage activity is still quite strong. The 2006 figure is, after all, still the third-highest on record.

“Clearly, there was no ‘bursting bubble’ in the New York housing market in 2006,” said Charles Staro, NYSAR chief executive officer. “As evidenced by the third highest sales total on record, the New York housing market is healthy and we expect it to remain so as we proceed through 2007.”

The Chautauqua County housing market showed similar results, reaching its peak in 2005. A total of 1,049 homes were sold in 2006, according to NYSAR figures — a decrease of 4.9 percent from 2005 and 3.3 percent from 2004.

“It is encouraging to know that in 2006 Chautauqua County experienced a smaller-than-statewide decrease in the annual number of sales of existing single-family homes,” Johnson said.

Statewide, the median selling price was $248,500 — a 2.8 percent decrease from 2005. In Chautauqua County, the median selling price was $71,500 — a 3.6 percent increase from 2005.

Median selling prices are lowest in the rural areas of Western New York. Only five counties in the state registered a median selling price below $80,000, and four were in the region — Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Allegany and Wyoming counties.

The fifth was St. Lawrence County in Northern New York.

“It is fantastic news that our median home price showed gains rather than decreases experienced statewide as well as in many parts of the country,” Johnson said.

Prices create a lot of affordable housing, according to Johnson — but best of all, they aren’t going down, which would be good news for buyers but terrible for sellers.

Randy Holcomb, assessor for Jamestown and numerous towns in southern Chautauqua County, describes the housing market as stable.

“We’ve seen about the same amount of appreciation we’ve seen in the last two years,” Holcomb said.

He indicated that the increase in the median price across Chautauqua County was largely driven by appreciation in specific areas.

“I think it is the same everywhere else except in higher-end subdivisions, lakefront parcels, and I think the Chautauqua Institution had a higher appreciation rate, but it is nowhere near what it was three years ago,” Holcomb said.

SOURCE: Jamestown Post-Journal