New York home sales jump in July

New York realtors sold more than 11,000 previously owned homes in July, an increase of more than 19 percent from July 2012, according to a monthly report the New York State Association of Realtors (NYSAR) released today.

 

Pending sales also jumped more than 19 percent to more than 11,000 in July compared to nearly 9,400 in July 2012, NYSAR said.

 

The New York housing market “experienced its own July heat wave” as motivated buyers snapped up homes at a “brisk pace,” Duncan MacKenzie, CEO of NYSAR, said in a news release.

 

“In fact, the market reached the highest number of July closed sales since 2007, and the highest number of July pending sales since 2005,” MacKenzie said.

 

The combination of “strong buyer demand” and “constrained inventory levels” continue driving median price gains as buyers paid sellers nearly 96 percent of their asking price in July, said MacKenzie.

 

He noted that July marked the 14th consecutive month of stable or rising median prices compared to the prior year. The July median of nearly $242,000 was up six percent from a year ago and was the highest monthly median since February 2008, according to NYSAR.

 

The year-to-date (through July 31) median sales price of $225,000 represents a seven percent increase from the same period last year.

 

The  inventory of homes available for sale fell more than 20 percent in July to 10.3 months of supply, compared to the same month in 2012 when the inventory totaled 13 months of supply.

 

Inventory totaled more than 92,000 units in July 2013, a decrease of more than 12 percent compared to July 2012.

 

A 6 month to 6.5 month supply is considered to be a balanced market, the organization said.

 

NYSAR also released July home-sales data for individual counties.

 

In Broome County, realtors closed 124 home sales in July, down nearly 14 percent from 144 a year ago. The median sales price rose more than nine percent to nearly   $125,000, compared to more than $114,000 in July 2012.

 

In Onondaga County, realtors closed 481 home sales in July, up nearly eight percent from 446 in the year-earlier period. The median sales price rose more than two percent to $144,000.

 

In Oneida County, closed home sales rose nearly 10 percent to 159 in July, compared to 145 in the year-ago period. The median sales price fell more than two percent to $120,000, compared to $123,000 in July 2012.

 

Albany–based NYSAR is a nonprofit trade organization representing more than 47,000 New York state realtors.

 

 

 

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com