Homes for sale in metropolitan Rochester stay on the market longer—but still sell faster than any other major metro nationally.
The average time from listing to sale in July was 17 days, Realtor.com’s monthly home market trends for July show. Rochester’s average time on market in June was 12 days.
After Rochester, the metros with the fewest average days on market in July were Columbus and Nashville, both with 22; Raleigh, 23; and Denver, 24. Nationally, the average time on market was 35 days.
While rising mortgage rates have had an impact on home sales across the country, Realtor.com reports that housing is expensive and accelerating, with median prices hitting an all-time high in June, while time on the market is shorter than last year and well below pre-pandemic levels.
“While demand has slowed significantly compared to last year, housing activity remains strong compared to pre-pandemic levels,” the report added.
A number of factors may combine to explain why Rochester’s average time is #1 on the market. Both active and new listing counts were down year-over-year—6 percent and 21 percent, respectively. In contrast, the national active listing count increased 31 percent year-over-year in July, the largest increase in inventory in Realtor.com’s data history and a nearly 19 percent increase from June, the previous record. Newly listed homes across the US fell 3 percent.
Rochester’s median home price in July was $235,000, down 3 percent from a year ago. Nationally, the median list price was $449,024, up nearly 17 percent. Of the 50 largest metros, Realtor.com is the only one with a lower median list price in its monthly report.
Nationally, the share of discounted homes was 19 percent. In Rochester it was 12 percent. The Buffalo-Niagara area had the lowest share of discount listings, with Rochester coming in sixth.
According to the report, the seller’s sentiment may be changing. While price growth nationally hasn’t softened significantly, “sellers may feel they’ve passed the peak, or consider financing costs because it’s too difficult and expensive to buy another home at this point.”
The report points to the latest Fannie Mae National Home Survey, which found the percentage of respondents who thought it was a good time to sell in June fell 15 percent compared to May—the biggest drop in sales sentiment since December 2020.
With U.S. GDP shrinking by two quarters in the first half of 2022, many economists believe a recession is on the horizon — or has already begun. The latest data shows that Rochester’s economic crisis has subsided.
In the year During the Great Recession of 2007-09, due to the bursting of the housing bubble, home prices fell in many markets. While real estate experts say the chances of another crash are extremely low, some metros are more vulnerable than others to falling home prices in an economic downturn.
However, Rochester is not on that list. In fact, a recent Redfin analysis of 100 U.S. metro area housing markets found Rochester to be among the strongest. The total risk score was 10.Th The best. Akron, Ohio, is the least likely to experience a housing downturn if America enters a recession. Buffalo is ranked eighth.
“Nearly all (the top 10 low-risk) metros have relatively slow rising prices, both factors that will help their housing markets in the face of a recession,” says Seattle-based full-service real estate firm Redfin. Broker.
Added Redfee: “Affordability helps lower-income housing markets because people are more likely to buy a home, and those areas can attract lower-income people from out of town.”
The most exposed market was Riverside, California, followed by Boise, Idaho; Cape Coral, Fla.; North Port, Fla.; and Las Vegas.
Redfin based its exposure rating on 10 factors, including home price volatility, average debt-to-income ratio, average home-loan-to-value ratio, year-over-year price growth and hundreds of homes flipped.
“If the U.S. goes into recession, we can’t see a housing-market crash like the Great Recession because the factors affecting the economy are different: Most homeowners have the right amount of home equity and debt, and unemployment is not low,” said Shahriar Bokhari, senior economist at Redfin.
Paul Erickson is editor-in-chief of the Rochester Beacon. The Beacon welcomes comments from readers who respect our comment policy, including using their full and correct names.
