Rochester Housing Market Looks Great for 2012!

Rochester has been known to have a relatively stable housing market. No major highs or lows, but in 2012, realtors are hoping for a great year.

Last week, the chief economist for Trulia, a real estate industry blog predicted that Rochester would be a “hot” market in 2012 due to tech jobs in the area. Rochester ranked 5th after Austin, Houston, San Jose and Boston.

Local realtors say they are already seeing signs that this may be the case. “We had the best November and December we ever had,” says Josh Bartolotta of Nothnagle Realtors. “For a while, people weren't making moves unless they really had to. It seems as though there was a pent up demand on the buyer side.”

Bartolotta says consumer confidence is up and mortgage rates are at all time lows. He believes this may have accounted for the great sales numbers in the past two months. Bartolotta also points out that a specific group of homebuyers have helped the market.

“We're seeing an influx of people coming in from out of town,” he says. “Whether they are coming in for a technology-related industry or to work in financial services. Just in the last half of 2011, we saw a significant jump in the number of people who were coming into the Rochester area.”