|
 This is the time of year when housing activity picks up – both buying and selling.
One of the area's top-selling realtors is Holly Creek. She says the market in Rochester is not what it is in Florida or Arizona. “We're really stable. We don't have the highs and lows. We just go along, so I have to say it's busy.”
Creek says the local real estate industry is holding its own and she's optimistic. “There's a lot of homes on the market, but there's activity all over the place and in the high end properties, especially. So we're doing well with the high end.”
According to the Greater Rochester Association of Realtors, median homes price in the 12-county area it covers was $117,000 at the end of 2008.
In just Monroe County, it stood at $131,000, down slightly from 2007 and in just the city of Rochester, the median home price is $57,000. Median means half the sales prices are above that figure and half are below.
Chuck Hilbert is president of the local realtors. “In February, compared with January of 2009, we're seeing an increase in purchase offers almost to the point of 6.9-percent this month.”
Greater Rochester Association of Realtors reports sales data every quarter, not every month, and says it's a better representation of the market.
Hilbert says the local inventory of houses is down 13 percent from January. “That means two things. Inventory is selling, but it's not being replaced. So actually what we need in the marketplace today is listings. We need more sellers to start putting their houses for sale.”
Realtors say they use the median price because the average price of houses sold is not an accurate reflection of the market - one or two big sales can throw it all off.
For more Rochester, N.Y. news go to our website www.whec.com.
|
Print Story
