One of the nation’s top economists looked at New York’s real estate market and concluded something is screwy.
“Whacked,” was the word National Association of Realtors Chief Economist Lawrence Yun used at a Monday morning conference at the Saratoga Hilton. “Undervalued by any standard” was another way Yun described upstate’s market.
Citing that home sales activity is about the same from a decade ago — despite an overall increase in jobs and personal income — Yun told a gathering of the New York State Association of Realtors that markets statewide are not performing as strongly as they should. He blamed fragile consumer confidence and stricter lending requirements for stifling growth in upstate’s local real estate markets.
“You have a situation in New York where you have more people with jobs and more people living in the state than 10 years ago. Affordability conditions are very similar, yet home sales activity is much lower,” Yun said. “So something is out of whack, and what is out of whack is the buyers’ lack of confidence.”
Yun’s comments came at a time when single-family home sales are down 16 percent for the first seven months, compared to the same period of 2007. During that period, the area’s median sale price rose 1 percent to $193,600.
Categories: Business
