The Buffalo Niagara Association of Realtors reports 547 closed sales in June. While that number is nearly half of what it was the previous year, pending sales are up 14.3 percent from the year prior.
Statistics on July sales were not released and are typically not released until early-August.
Donna Littlefield, President of the BNAR, said the market became more competitive again and exploded when realtors could show homes again in phase two of the state's reopening plan.
"They're allowing people that were furloughed to get mortgages as long as they could prove they were back at their jobs," Littlefield said. "Everybody's working together to get the housing market up to 100 percent running."
Realtors locally all agree that it is currently a sellers market due to the high demand of homes with little inventory. Littlefield said it's been a sellers market ever since 2009 and anticipates it staying that way for a while.
"We tell the sellers to get your house on the market, get a reverse contingency on your home so you're not out of a house, you're a stronger buyer," she said. "There's all different things you can do in order to get your house listed and not be out of a home."
Another factor that is driving the market is the record-low interest rates. Bankrate reports a 30-year mortgage rate of 3.15 percent. For some, depending on their credit, it can be even lower.
Hunt said it's so low now that it costs about $4 per $1,000 of borrowing.
"If I want to raise my offer by $10,000, it's only going to cost me a little over $40 on a monthly basis," he said.
Hunt said there is the chance the rate could go down even further.
Both Littlefield and Hunt said it's a great time to sell a home in order to net the most equity in their home.
Overall sales of homes are down more than 15 percent this year compared to last year, though that drop is mostly attributed to the restrictions imposed due to the pandemic. The 1,499 pending sales are the highest figure since the Buffalo Niagara Association of Realtors began tracking the data in 2009.
