First quarter home sales up 53 percent

YATES COUNTY--Home sales in Yates County are up 53.1 percent for the first quarter of 2015 compared to the same period from 2014.
According to the Greater Rochester Association of Realtors, home sales were up 53.1 percent with 49 homes sold in the first three months of 2015. In 2014 during the same time frame 32 homes were sold.
GRAR also reported the median price increased 7.5 percent in 2015 to $129,000. From January to March of 2014 the median price was $120,000.
At the same time as Yates sales increased, the total number of homes on the market was down 23.8 percent, with 141 homes for sale during the first quarter of 2015. New listings were also down 4.29 percent. Nothnagle Realtor Jim Moon attributed the decrease in listings to the harsh weather.
However, despite the fewer homes for sale, Moon said the increase in sales was from potential home buyers actively searching for and "finding what homes are on the market." Moon said he had a listing in Hammondsport that was bought within 24 hours of being put on the market. He said the interested homebuyers are people from outside the area. Moon said people are looking in the area for a "nice house on the lake."
"What they're discovering is they can buy a house in Hammondsport, Penn Yan, or Watkins Glen, not on the lake, but within the village and have a boat on a trailer and within 10 minutes have the boat in the water," said Moon.
Yates' increases also surpassed the overall state numbers. According to the New York State Association of Realtors, the total number of homes sold throughout the state only increased 1.6 percent. The state median price in the first quarter, $230,000, also was a 2.2 percent increase.
In the first quarter of 2015 in Schuyler County the median sales price of a single family home was $143,000, as stated by the Elmira-Corning Regional Association of Realtors. In 2014 the median price was $130,500, which equals a 9.5 percent increase. Similarly, the number of homes sold increased by 4 percent: 23 homes in 2015 and 22 in 2014.
Unlike Yates, the total homes for sale in Schuyler was the same at 124 for both quarters, while new listings increased to 73 for this year from 61 last year.
Weil added, "The fact that the number of houses for sale in each of the areas is the same or less and that the months' supply has decreased across the board is of more interest to me, and would be to buyers and sellers, I think. (...) Housing sales are greatly impacted by jobs and so we as realtors, we remain very interested in the business climate in the area. Jobs create income that can pay a mortgage, and the ability to get a mortgage means the ability to buy a home."