By Lindsay Hart, REALTOR® All six counties around Tompkins gained value per square foot this year. Tompkins itself didn't. Yesterday I showed that Tompkins County home values are flat this year. Price per square foot was $209 in 2025 and $208 in 2026. So I ran the same numbers for the six counties that border … Continue reading The Counties surrounding Tompkins tell a Different Real Estate Story.
If you've seen a headline this fall saying Tompkins County home prices are down, the number is real. The median sale price fell 7.6% this year, from $395,000 to $365,000. If you own a home here, that probably made your stomach drop a little. If you're trying to buy, it might have made your heart … Continue reading Are Tompkins County Home Prices Really Down?
Week of September 14–21, 2026 · Tompkins + 6 Contiguous Counties The County Scoreboard Chemung3729538155Tompkins3627099133Cayuga30248132173Seneca163741120Cortland12132111321Schuyler121113411Tioga6811241REGION1491152444684414 Absorption: new listings per contract (lower = tighter) Cortland0.9 : 1186.6%Seneca1.5 : 111 (fastest)2.9%(shallowest)Cayuga1.4 : 1286.1%Schuyler3.0 : 1224.4%Tioga3.0 : 156 (slowest)9.8%(deepest)Tompkins4.0 : 1177.6%Chemung4.6 : 1188.0%Region2.2 : 1187.0% Week Over Week vs. Sept 7–14 CountyNewΔCutsΔContractsΔExp+WdΔTompkins33 → 36+330 → 27−311 → 9−237 → 13−24Cayuga27 → 30+335 → 24−1120 … Continue reading Mid Week {Ithaca Real Estate} Market Brief : Supply is Surging, demand isn’t keeping the same pace.
2026 does not yet qualify as a buyer's market on absorption. Across the seven-county region, year-to-date supply sits at 3.6 months (a 27.7% monthly absorption rate), which is still inside seller's-to-balanced territory. The conventional threshold for a buyer's market is more than 6 months of supply, or an absorption rate below roughly 16–17% per month. … Continue reading Balanced, Tilting, Not Broken: The Real Story Behind Tompkins County’s Slowing Market
Pip: Lindsay Hart pulled six years of her own MLS data, ran the numbers county by county, and then wrote it all up so the rest of us wouldn't have to pretend we understood the headlines. Mara: That's the thread running through this episode — what the local data actually shows about inventory, price signals, … Continue reading Ithaca & Tompkins Co. Housing Market Reality: a podcast episode
Every conversation I have right now starts the same way. A seller asks if they missed the window. A buyer asks if prices are about to fall. Both of them are working off headlines, and the headlines are about markets that look nothing like ours. So I pulled the numbers. Not a summary of a … Continue reading Same Buyers, More Houses: Why Your Market Isn’t Crashing (It’s Just Getting Crowded)
Tompkins, Cayuga, Cortland, Tioga, Chemung, Schuyler & Seneca Counties | September 7–14, 2026 County-by-County Snapshot (Past 7 Days) CountyNew ListingsPrice CutsPending / Under ContractExpired / WithdrawnTompkins33301137*Cayuga2735207Chemung25301611Tioga106121Cortland79104Seneca7493Schuyler6273Total1151167467 *37 expired/withdrawn in Tompkins includes a 28-lot builder batch expiration in Lansing. The Story Behind the Numbers Seneca County is quietly the tightest market in the region. Pending homes … Continue reading Beyond the Blips: Real Estate Pulse Across the Finger Lakes & Southern Tier
Selling Your Home in Ithaca? How to Find the Right Real Estate Agent... So you're thinking about selling your house. Maybe you're ready to make a move. Maybe you've been talking about it for six months. Maybe you're just curious what your house is worth and wondering, “If I actually decide to sell, who the … Continue reading How to shop for a listing agent intelligently.
If you've been watching headlines about a red-hot national housing market, our local numbers tell a different story. The Ithaca Board of REALTORS' June 2026 Monthly Indicators show a market that's quietly rebalancing — more choices for buyers, more patience required from sellers, and a few signals worth understanding before you list or make an … Continue reading From Seller’s Market to Balanced: What Tompkins County’s June 2026 Numbers Are Really Telling Us
If you're renting in Ithaca, please read this before you send anyone a dollar for a lease, a deposit, or a set of keys. I recently spotted another suspicious rental post on Nextdoor — the kind that's becoming all too common in our area. A property was listed "for rent" by someone claiming to represent … Continue reading Rental Scams Are Getting Smarter — And They’re Hitting Closer to Home
