Real estate poll: Seller's Market Could Be On The Way

 

New Yorkers' views of the housing market remained positive in the fourth quarter but stopped getting better, according to new polling from the Siena Research Institute.

 

The institute, based at Siena College near Albany, created its latest real estate sentiment scores based on phone interviews throughout the fourth quarter with 1,994 New Yorkers over age 18.

 

Here are some highlights:

• Improvement comes to an end: The institute's overall sentiment score had been steadily rising since reaching its low point several years ago. That climb stopped in the fourth quarter. The overall current score was 12, down 5.7 points from the third quarter. Any score over zero means New Yorkers had mostly positive feelings about the market.

 

• A seller's market on the horizon?: Buyers have held a perceived advantage over sellers for quite some time, according to Siena. But that appears to be changing. Scores measuring New Yorkers' thoughts on selling a home in the future were far higher than readings measuring their feelings on buying in the future.

 

• Upstate is feeling good: Upstate New Yorkers' current feelings on the housing market remained mostly positive, according to Siena. The region's overall current score was 15.3 in the fourth quarter. That's down 4.1 points from the third quarter but ahead of New York City's reading of 6.5. The overall current score for the New York suburbs was 17.6.

 

• Reason for continued optimism: Right now, 45 percent of New Yorkers say the condition of the housing market has improved over the past year and almost as many expect to see more improvement in the year ahead, said Don Levy, institute director. Only 25 percent believe things have gotten worse, and less than 20 percent expect conditions to weaken in the future. "Compared to where we've been, this is a very solid footing," Levy said in a news release.