THE BLUEPRINT:
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Nassau County’s median home price rose to $875,000 in August
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Suffolk County’s median reached $714,000, up 5% from last year
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Long Island housing inventory dropped 6.5% year-over-year
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Baby boomers less likely to sell, fueling housing shortage
Long Island home prices rose to all-time highs last month, fueled by lagging inventory.
The median price of closed single-family home sales in Nassau County in August climbed to $875,000, a $15,000 jump from the previous month and a 5.4 percent increase from the $830,000 median recorded in August 2024, according to numbers from OneKey MLS.
In Suffolk County, the median price of closed single-family home sales last month was $714,000, that’s $12,000 higher than the previous month and 5 percent more than the August 2024 median price of $680,000.
The main reason for the soaring home prices is the still limited supply of available listings, as the inventory of available homes for sale last month fell from the previous month and there were fewer listings than a year ago.
There were 5,928 Long Island homes listed for sale with OneKey MLS at the end of last month—2,492 in Nassau and 3,436 in Suffolk. That’s 296 fewer than the 6,224 homes listed for sale at the end of July and 6.5 percent fewer than the 6,343 homes listed for sale at the end of August 2024.
By way of comparison, there were 54.6 percent fewer Long Island homes listed for sale at the end of last month than the 13,076 homes listed for sale at the end of August 2019, the last pre-pandemic, same-month example.
As the lack of inventory continues to boost prices, market activity has slowed as a result. There were 2,245 homes in Nassau and Suffolk contracted for sale last month, 90 less than the 2,335 homes contracted for sale the previous month, though 50 more than the 2,195 that were contracted for sale in August 2024.
The numbers for listings and sales include single-family homes, condominiums, and co-ops. The Suffolk numbers don’t reflect all sales on the East End.
A big reason for the dearth of available listings are older homeowners’ increasing reluctancy to sell, according to a new survey from Clever Offers, a cash-for-homes platform. Of those surveyed nationally, 61 percent of baby boomers say they never plan to sell their homes, which is 7 percent higher than those surveyed a year ago. In addition, the number of boomer homeowners who expect to sell within the next five years dropped to just 10 percent, down from 15 percent in 2024.
One bright spot in the housing market is lower mortgage rates. The average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage loan in New York was 6.37 percent as of Wednesday, according to NerdWallet.com. That’s down from July, and below the 2024 average rate of 6.7 percent.
And though lower rates sounds like good news, brokers warn that it could be a double-edged sword for buyers, as lower rates will create more buying competition and likely higher prices.
“Inventory should pick up in the next 12 months if we see lower rates because the sellers will more likely now cash in their equity and maybe their 3.5 interest rate if they could get a 5 to 5.75,” said Ken Olson, an associate broker with HomeSmart Premier Living Realty, which has six Long Island offices. “But at the same time, I think we’ll see more buyer participation as the rates go down. And even if the number of homes for sale goes up, if the buyer percentage goes up greater, we have the same problem. It’s going to cause prices to go higher.”
David Winzelberg
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