The 2016 Capital District Real Estate Market Kick Off!

Looking for a Capital District home? Click here for a full Home Search 

Selling Your Capital District home? Get a free Home Price Evaluation

It's official! 2015 was the best year for home sales here in the Capital district since 2006. That's great news! Today, I'll go over some numbers for four different counties with you.

First, I came across a great article in The Business Review. The median sales price in our area increased by 1% to $195,000, but the average sales price has stayed virtually the same, sticking at $222,701.

However, results released over the past few months indicated that the market was on track to post the best year in real estate since 2006. If you remember back to the beginning of the year, we had a rough start to 2015 because of the brutal winter. So it's great to see that in the third and fourth quarter, we came back strong.

Why did our market do so well? I can point to three main factors: job growth, lower unemployment rates, and historically low interest rates. Even though rates went up a little bit, that small increase was not enough to deter buyers from purchasing a home. However, be aware that you will start to see rates increase over the next year or so.

Now for the numbers. Closed sales fell by about 6% in December, but the good news is that pending contracts are actually up 12%. That's a great sign, and 2016 is starting off very strong compared to last year. Here are the sales numbers for four different counties in our area:

• Albany County: Sales are up 10%. The average sales price is down 1% at $239,602.

• Rensselaer County: Sales are up 6% and the average sales price is $182,386.

• Saratoga County: Sales are up 5%. The average sales price is up 3% at $299,878.

• Schenectady County: Sales are up 16% and the average sales price is down 1% at $170,030.

The average days on market is about the same as last year, maybe just a week quicker. That's due to low inventory, which should pick up here in the spring market.

That's it for my market update. If you're thinking of buying or selling a home, I just want to take a quick moment to offer you two great books for free. I co-authored both of these with 18 other top agents: Answers from Experts on Selling a Home and Answers from Experts on Buying a Home.

If you're interested in these books, or if you have any questions regarding real estate, give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you!