MARKET BREAKDOWN
REGIONAL SPOTLIGHT: BUFFALO, NEW YORK
Regional Spotlight: Buffalo, NewYork THIS RUST BELT CITY HAS PLENTY OF ROOM TO GROW.
residences, such as the buyer who offered the seller “pizza for a year” if they would accept their bid over competing, similarly priced offers, and the local agent who convinced his (ultimately successful) buyers to buy the seller hockey tickets to the NHL game of their choice. According to local news station WIVB4, buyers are waiving the right to inspection and paying cash in order to circumvent competing offers from would-be purchasers using conventional financing. According to the Buffalo Niagara Association of Realtors (BNAR), as early as May 2017 inventory levels had fallen 30 percent in the area and were still declining fast thanks to high levels of investor activity and a plethora of cash buyers. Despite local market heat, however, the
region remains among the most affordable in the country. With median home prices under $100,000 and median rents hovering around $1,000 a month, the Buffalo- Niagara area receives frequent mentions as one of the most attractive markets for recent college graduates and the increasingly purchase-oriented Millennial generation. In fact, Realtor.com cited Buffalo as a “leading city” for attracting Millennials in their late 20s and early 30s. This population is forming the majority of new households, both renting and owning, and makes up the bulk of first-time homebuyers today. “That’s why Buffalo is routinely ranking in Top 10 hottest markets, particularly for relatively younger buyers, lately,” Fuller pointed out. “We are seeing
rising prices and higher demand for rentals all the time.”
THE LONG, SLOWDECLINETHAT SETUPAPRESENT-DAYBOOM Despite its prime position between Great Lakes Ontario and Erie, Buffalo’s early history was a bit rocky. The Buffalo- Niagara area was originally inhabited by a tribal offshoot of the Iroquois Nation, which inhabited most of the area around the Great Lakes and as far south as Kentucky. The area was plagued by conflicts revolving around the use of the lakes as trade routes and rights to the beaver inhabiting the area, which were an essential part of the fur trade. Buffalo itself was “born” in the early
by Carole VanSickle Ellis
uffalo, New York, likely received its current name from the French phrase Beau Fleuve , which means “beautiful river” and was used by French fur traders and native Americans long before today’s “Queen City of the Great Lakes” was ever established. The city, which is the second-largest metro area in B
New York State behind New York City, boasts a growing population, newly- stabilized and heavily-state-supported local economy, and one of the most affordable housing markets in the country. “Buffalo is growing at a tremendous rate, creating thousands of new jobs and injecting massive amounts of money
into the city,” observed Garret Fuller, co-founder of Return on Rentals, a turnkey rental provider active in the Buffalo-Niagara area and associated commuter suburbs. In fact, the market has been so attractive recently that Buffalo has been home to several headline-making offers on local
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