The market outlook for existing-home sales in the state and region isn't as gloomy as a national study released Tuesday suggests, officials of the New York State Association of Realtors said, though buyers are at an advantage.
Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller said its national home-price index fell 14.1 percent in the first quarter compared with a year earlier, the lowest since the index's inception in 1988. The quarterly index covers all nine U.S. Census divisions.
However, the New York State Association of Realtors last week reported statewide sales of existing single-family homes increased by 14 percent in April compared with March, which ``bodes well for the future.''
"All real-estate markets are local, and it's no different here in New York state,'' said Duncan R. MacKenzie, NYSAR chief executive officer said in a media release. ``While reports of the so-called `national' housing market's demise abound, overall, New York's housing market is performing well, with sales gains being reported in more than two-third of our counties. This month-to-month growth in sales bodes well for the future as we enter the traditionally active late spring and summer months.''
Homeowners in New York on average own their residences for seven years, NYSAR officials said, and over that time, equity has increased. The median price was about $110,000 in April 2001, compared with $215,000 last month, officials said.
Though data show declines in sales in Otsego and Delaware counties from last April to this April, officials expressed optimism about the market as the traditional busy season begins.
Sal Prividera, spokesman for Albany-based NYSAR, said the inventory of existing homes is good, prices have decreased but not ``dropped out'' and mortgages still are at near-historic lows. These factors combine to make it ``an absolutely great time'' to be in the market, especially for buyers, he said.
The housing market in New York state hasn't been tied to an industry, such as Detroit and its dependence on auto manufacturers, or had a boom like California, NYSAR officials said.
According to a May 23 media release reporting preliminary data, Realtors statewide sold 5,838 homes in April, up 14.4 percent from 5,035 homes sold in March, though down 14.7 percent from 6,845 sold in April 2007.
The April 2008 median sales price of $215,000 represents a 2.5 percent increase from the March median of $209,800, NYSAR said; the April 2008 sales price is a 12.2 percent decrease from $245,000 of April last year.
Data don't include homes not sold by a Realtor, who is registered with the not-for-profit trade group, which in New York has 61,000 members.
However, NYSAR officials said the current market calls for sellers to set a ``right to the market'' and not an inflated price.
Buyers are more savvy than 10 years ago about the market because they do research on the Internet, said Ross Gill, president of the Otsego-Delaware Board of Realtors. With more buyers aware of market conditions, there are fewer offers and fewer bidding wars for homes than a few years ago, he said, and it's critical for sellers to do homework to find out values of neighboring homes and seek appraisals.
Sellers also must factor into their price how fast they want to sell their home, said Gill, an associate broker with Hawley Realty in Delhi. For example, by working with owners who wanted to sell their home in about three months, they set a right-to-market price and it sold at the asking price of $399,000 within 48 hours, he said. The home was a federal-style reproduction built in 1986 on 15 acres along Turnpike Road in the town of Meredith, he said, and the closing was Thursday.
Gill, referring to trade literature, said the outlook for the real-estate market is better for the second half of the year, and for next year better than this year.
``This is a very good time for buyers,'' Gill said.
