October home sales rose statewide, outpacing much of CNY

New York realtors increased year-over-year home sales in October, but the New York State Association of Realtors (NYSAR) expects the negative impacts of Superstorm Sandy to hurt the housing market in the fourth quarter of 2012.

Realtors closed 7,839 sales of existing single-family homes, condos, and co-ops this October, an increase of 4.3 percent compared to the same month last year. The statewide median sale price increased 2 percent to $209,000, its fifth straight month on the rise, NYSAR said.

Pending sales were also up. They spiked 18.1 percent to 8,517.

“Through October, the New York state housing market made solid progress, and our outlook was for increased sales and median sales price growth trends to continue,” NYSAR CEO Duncan MacKenzie said in a news release. “However, following Superstorm Sandy, the massive housing markets in the federally declared disaster areas were essentially put on hold. We anticipate that the devastation wrought by the storm will affect the housing market in those areas for many months to come.”

Onondaga, Broome, and Oneida counties may have dodged the serious storm damage that struck Downstate areas. But for the most part, their housing numbers trailed the state’s in October.

Realtors in Onondaga County had the strongest October of the three counties, closing 376 sales in the month for a year-over-year increase of 13.6 percent. But the median sale price fell 3.6 percent in the county to $127,500.

Oneida County realtors closed 151 home sales, a drop of 2.6 percent from last year. The median sale price in that county fell 4.4 percent to $109,900.

Broome County’s closed sales totaled 106 in October, down 5.4 percent from the previous year. The county’s median sale price tumbled 13.6 percent to $92,360.

Contact Seltzer at rseltzer@cnybj.com