Last month’s Long Island home sales continued to lag behind sales numbers from recent years as home prices remain firm.
There were 2,470 homes in Nassau and Suffolk counties contracted for sale last month, down 9.6 percent from the 2,732 Long Island homes contracted for sale a year ago, according to preliminary numbers from OneKey MLS.
Though slightly lower than last year, Long Island home prices are holding fairly steady. The median price of closed home sales in Nassau last month was $662,150, down 3.3 percent from the $685,000 median price recorded in May 2022.
In Suffolk, the median price of closed home sales last month was $550,000, down slightly from the $555,000 median price recorded a year ago.
The current inventory of available Long Island homes for sale has risen in recent months but is still historically low. There were 5,058 homes listed for sale as of Tuesday, 2,533 in Nassau and 2,525 in Suffolk. That’s more than the 4,844 homes listed for sale at the end of April but 16.4 percent fewer than the 6,053 homes listed for sale at the end of May 2022.
While some brokers say that comparing home sales to the frenzied buying that took place though the COVID-19 pandemic doesn’t reflect what’s happening in the current market, the number of pending Long Island home sales are still significantly lower than pre-pandemic levels. Last month’s 2,470 pending home sales are 21.2 percent lower than the 3,133 pending home sales recorded in May 2019.
Industry observers maintain that apples-to-apples comparisons of real estate statistics pose a challenge since there are so many variables, particularly mortgage rates, inventory levels and prices. For instance, the average mortgage rate for a 30-year fixed loan in May 2019 was about 4 percent, while this May the rate averaged well above 6 percent.
In addition to the mortgage rate disparity, the current number of homes on the market pales in comparison to four years ago. The inventory of available Long Island homes for sale in May 2019 was 13,147, about 160 percent more than the current supply of 5,058.
And of course, home prices have soared compared to pre-pandemic levels. The median price of closed Nassau home sales from last month is 25 percent higher than the $530,000 median price from May 2019. The median price of closed home sales in Suffolk from last month is 41 percent higher than the median price of $390,000 from May 2019.
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David Winzelberg
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