BUFFALO, N.Y. — The price of buying a home in Buffalo is steadily rising.
A new study by Refi Guide ranked Buffalo as one of the top three large cities where home prices are increasing the most. Buffalo was third after Newark N.J. and Dallas, T.X.
According to the study, Buffalo's average housing price has increased by 15 percent since 2009. Mark DiGiampaolo with MJ Peters Real Estate says there are a number of factors contributing to this. There are investments on the part of homeowners and investments from corporations.
"It's been a two-prong approach in investment in the city and that is bringing the values up because you have neighborhoods that are stabilizing, beautiful homes with architectural beauty in neighborhoods where people want to live," he said.
DiGiampaolo says that Buffalo homeowners have invested hundreds of millions of dollars into their properties over the years.
"The homeowners of the city of Buffalo, with their own money, have probably, without exaggerating, have probably put two or three hundred million dollars of their own money into the improvement of their properties. That raises the value of those properties."
Coupled with the investment into Buffalo's various neighborhoods, the value of any property, even some without houses built on them, is increasing.
"North Buffalo, parts of the West Side. We're seeing the improvements that are occurring in the Fruit Belt and down in South Buffalo."
The city has also seen a decrease in the amount of housing stock. DiGiampaolo says this is likely due to an increase in homeowners not putting their houses up for sale. New data from the Buffalo Niagara Association of Realtors showed that housing stock in Buffalo decreased by 1.7 percent since last year.
"They want to see what happens," he added.
DiGiampaolo says, the result is more people bidding over the same piece of property and as time goes on, Buffalo may lose its reputation for being an affordable place to live.