Home prices rise in New York State for fifth consecutive year

ALBANY, N.Y., Jan. 22, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — For the fifth consecutive year home prices appreciated according to the housing market report released today by the New York State Association of REALTORS^®. Home prices in 2018 rose 6.0 percent above 2017 figures.  The $265,000 median sales price at the end of 2018 topped the 2017 median price of $250,000.  In 2014, the median price was $225,000.

High home prices usually coincide with low inventory. In 2018, the number of homes for sale dropped 0.3-percent compared to 2017. In fact, compared to 2010, inventory has dropped from 87,621 homes to just 59,889 in 2018. With fewer homes to choose from coupled with home prices rising higher than wage increases, buyers found 2018 a difficult year overall to purchase homes.

There were 132,022 closed sales in 2018, a decrease of 2.5 percent from the 135,408 sold in 2017.  There were 34,147 closed sales in the 2018 fourth quarter, a decrease of 4.3 percent from the 35,686 closed sales in the 2017 fourth quarter. The 10,267 closed sales in December 2018 represented a decrease of 11.5 percent from December 2017. For the first time in five years, closed sales fell in 2018 compared to the prior year.

Hamilton County saw the biggest increase in closed sales at 14.7 percent while Chenango County experienced the largest decrease of 16.3 percent. Regarding average home prices, Lewis County saw the highest increase of 25.3 percent in 2018 – from $95,000 to $119,000 – over the prior year.

There was good news for sellers in 2018 as they received on average, 97.3 percent of their original list price at sale, a year-over-year improvement of 0.4 percent. It is the eighth consecutive year that the percent of list price received has risen for home sellers.

Homes that ranged in price from $100,001 to $150,000 sat on the market for the shortest amount of time in 2018 at 60 days on average. Those above $500,000 were on the market the longest, 83 days on average.

Additional data is available at http://www.nysar.com/industry-resources/market-data.

Editor’s Note: All data is compiled from multiple listing services in the state of New York and the data include townhomes, condominiums and existing single-family homes.

The New York State Association of REALTORS^® is a not-for-profit trade organization representing more than 55,000 of New York State’s real estate professionals. The term REALTOR^® is a registered trademark, which identifies real estate professionals who subscribe to a strict code of ethics as members of the National Association of REALTORS^®. These REALTORS^® are also members of the New York State Association of REALTORS^® as well as their local board or association of REALTORS^®.

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