Trending Tuesday: Inventory Grows Statewide — Not Here
Capital Region home shoppers face a tighter market than the rest of New York
Homebuyers shopping in Albany, Saratoga, Schenectady and Rensselaer counties this summer will find fewer listings and faster-moving competition than buyers almost anywhere else in New York State.
Statewide, housing inventory rose 3.2 percent in May compared to a year earlier, extending 15 straight months of growth, according to a report released June 22 by the New York State Association of Realtors. But in the Capital Region, inventory fell 7.7 percent over the same period, from 2,140 listings to 1,975, according to the Greater Capital Association of Realtors’ May Monthly Indicators report, published June 7.
The divergence runs through every county in the region. Albany County’s active listings dropped 15.3 percent. Schenectady County fell 13.1 percent. Rensselaer County was down 3.5 percent, and Saratoga County slipped 4.2 percent. Statewide, homes are becoming easier to find.
Locally, they’re becoming harder.
Months supply of inventory in the Capital Region fell to 2.2, down 12 percent from a year ago — a figure real estate agents use to gauge how long it would take to sell every home currently listed at the current sales pace. Anything below six months is generally considered a seller’s market.
The region has been below that line for years.
Pending sales moved in the same direction in both the state and the region, but the region is outpacing the state. Statewide pending sales rose 5.6 percent in May. In the Capital Region, they rose 7.3 percent, to 1,100 homes under contract.
Closed sales fell in both. The state reported an 11.6 percent year-over-year drop. The region fell 13.8 percent, driven partly by a 27.9 percent plunge in Rensselaer County, where only 75 homes closed in May compared to 104 a year earlier. GCAR notes that county-level monthly figures can swing sharply on small sample sizes.
Prices kept climbing almost everywhere.
