Local real estate experts say Rochester’s housing market continues to be among the hottest in the nation.
For several years, Rochester has been in the top tier of markets where demand for housing is outpacing supply.
Economist Kent Gardner describes the local market as dysfunctional. ”Anytime you’ve got a market where people are routinely expected to bid over asking, substantially over asking, we know that the market is effectively broken,” Gardner said recently on Connections with Evan Dawson on WXXI.
Also on that program was Mark Siwiec, the owner and a broker with Elysian Homes.
He said that while more inventory is becoming available and interest rates are starting to come down, it’s not enough to shift the landscape. ”I don’t see this market changing anytime dramatically in the near future,” said Siweic, “there’s not going to be an enormous correction in terms of valuation. “
The latest quarterly report from the Greater Rochester Association of Realtors also showed that prices in the Rochester area continue to rise and that situation likely will not change in the near future.
That’s according to Mike O’Connor, the president of the association. He said the report showed that the increase in the median sales price for a home in the Rochester region was 8.4% to $222,222 in the second quarter, compared to the same quarter a year ago.
And the median sales price increase was even higher in Monroe County, where it was up 10.1% over the same quarter last year, to $249,900. “It’s probably one of the highest (median sales prices) we've ever seen in our area,” said O’Connor, “and we don't expect that to change anytime soon, at least not until more houses come on to the market.”
O’Connor said it’s basic supply and demand, there just aren’t enough houses to go around, and the Realtors Association and some other groups are pushing for changes locally that would allow more houses to be built.
“We’re trying to get towns, down to providers, the city of Rochester, to consider other possibilities such as higher densities only in certain areas, not necessarily the whole town, but in certain areas,” said O’Connor. Perhaps in the city of Rochester, considering removing the criteria that you cannot have manufactured housing.”
O’Connor said that while the Northeast continues to have a lack of available homes, the situation does seem to be easing in some other parts of the country.
