Is there a housing “bubble” in Western New York?

It seems all we hear about these days is how terrible the real estate market is. It’s all doom and gloom in the news with “foreclosure” prevailing as the new buzz word. While I cannot say I don’t feel for the people who are now being forced into desperate situations due to the subprime mortgage crisis, I will say I am happy for the people here at home. In Western New York this news barely applies to us. Our market is stable and predictable, and we like it that way. Low housing costs make this a great place to buy a home and mortgage rates are as low as they’ve been in twenty years.

According to Buffalo Niagara Association of Realtors December of 2007 was a hot month (for the market, but certainly not the weather). They reported 862 sales which was a 5 percent increase from 822 the previous year. Full-year sales were up 3 percent to 11,138 from 10,806 in 2006. Buffalo area homes actually experienced a 9.1% gain in median price over the last quarter. Wait a minute… more sales and higher prices? This is not what we hear about in the news.

The truth is, in order for your bubble to burst there has to be a bubble in the first place. I noticed they never filmed an episode of Flip this House or Flip that House in Western NY. We’re all about value here. 1,800 square feet of living space in a stately colonial home in move-in condition for how much you say? $100-$150,000 should do it depending on the neighborhood. If someone was reading this from across the country they would think it was a joke. Lucky for us, it’s not.

Every day I get a call or an email from somebody wanting to buy a foreclosure because they must be cheap and there must be a ton out there waiting to be picked. But we will not be a statistic on the news this time. For record snowfall they can pick on us all they’d like but they can’t say our market is crumbling. RealtyTrac Inc., of Irvine, Calif., said in its 2007 foreclosure report that our area ranked 82^nd in foreclosure rates out of top 100 markets across the country. Not too shabby, 81 major markets had bigger problems than us. Pardon me while I get cozy, I think I’ll stay for a while.