New York home sales rise in March; CNY numbers mixed

ALBANY, N.Y. — New York realtors completed the sale of more than 7,000 previously owned homes in March, up more than 5 percent from over 6,600 completed sales in March 2014.

That’s according to the housing-market report that the New York State Association of Realtors (NYSAR) issued Wednesday.

Closed sales increased 1.6 percent in the first quarter compared to the same time period in 2015, NYSAR reported. The median sale price climbed 2.2 percent in that period.

New York’s realtors are “pleased” with the start to 2015 as “nearly all” of the market indicators moved in a “positive direction” in the first quarter, despite the harsh winter, Duncan MacKenzie, CEO of NYSAR, said in the organization’s news release.

“In addition to the gains in closed sales and median sales price, pending sales increased by more than 10 percent during the quarter as affordability improved thanks to continued low mortgage rates and economic growth,” said MacKenzie.

The March statewide median sales price of $225,000 was up 4.7 percent from the March 2014 median of $215,000, according to NYSAR.

The more than 9,800 pending sales in March were up more than 8 percent compared to March 2014 pending sales figure of more than 9,000.

Central New York data

Realtors in Broome County sold 79 existing homes in March, down nearly 4 percent from 82 a year ago, according to the NYSAR report. The median sales price rose more than 11 percent to nearly $102,000 from $91,500 a year ago.

In Jefferson County, realtors closed on 57 homes in March, up almost 27 percent from 45 a year ago, and the median sales price climbed more than 26 percent to $147,000 from $116,250 in March 2014.

NYSAR also reported that realtors sold 102 homes in Oneida County last month, up 20 percent from 85 in the year-ago period. The median sales price soared 25 percent to more than $115,000 from over $92,000 a year ago.

Sales of previously owned homes rose 9.5 percent to 287 in Onondaga County in March from 262 a year earlier, and the median sales price decreased less than 1 percent to $129,160 from $130,000, according to the NYSAR report.

All home-sales data is compiled from multiple-listing services in New York state and it includes townhomes and condominiums in addition to existing single-family homes, according to NYSAR.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com