Rensselaer County Realtors are blaming a 38 percent drop in residential sales from Jan. 31 to May 31 on high property taxes. Legislators, meanwhile, are blaming one another for the property taxes themselves.

James Ader, of the Greater Capital Association of Realtors, said Friday that members are telling him the reason it is hard to sell homes in Rensselaer County as opposed to other Capital Region counties is because of high property taxes.

“There may well be other factors,” Ader said, but nothing that can be quantified.

The Democratic Minority Office released a statement Wednesday citing statistics released by the Realtors association that show 117 closed residential sales in May 2008 but only 53 such sales in May 2009, a 55 percent drop. Ader said he was surprised that figure was used, because it is such a small sampling compared to the yearly drop in sales of 38 percent.

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