Sales of existing homes fell in the Rochester area last year, but prices were still going up.
A just-released report from the Greater Rochester Association of Realtors shows that in 2022, home sales in the Rochester region fell 10.5% compared to the year before.
Mike O’Connor is president of the association, and he said that one of the main factors for sales being down is one that has affected the housing industry for some time now: there just aren’t enough homes available on the market.
“That’s the problem that is causing most of the other problems that are related to our local industry is the lack of inventory,” said O’Connor. “And that’s due to a number of factors, people not moving, not giving up their low interest rate to go to a higher interest (rate), people that can sell their house, but where will they go if they sell their house?
O’Connor said that with higher interest rates, it may keep some prospective home buyers away from the market and that could help with the inventory situation.
But in any case, he still expects relatively brisk home sales in the coming year.
“Effectively the market is still very active, and it’s probably just going to be a little bit tighter than it was last year in terms of inventory, the slightly higher interest rates,” said O’Connor. “Overall, we expect the sales to be more or less close to what they were last year.”
With the issues over supply and demand, the price of homes continued to rise last year in the Rochester area.
In fact, they set a record last year, ending 11% higher over 2021, to a median sales price in the Rochester area of $200,000.
