Long Island Real Estate Activity Craters Amid Covid-19

LongIsland.com

New York State on Pause also included the real estate industry.

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Home sales on Long Island took a nosedive during the Covid-19 pandemic while the industry as a whole was put on pause in New York State.

 

Numbers reported by OneKey MLS showed that closed sales of homes in Suffolk, Nassau and Queens dropped by more than 30% from March to April. In April 1,613 homes closed compared to 2,313 in March. In April 2019, there were 2,912 homes that went to closing, a 45% drop from last year.

 

In Suffolk, there were 862 properties sold in April compared to 1,000 in March. In April 2019 there were 1,259 homes sold, a 32% drop year-over-year.

 

Nassau had 527 sell in April compared to 751 in March. During April 2019, 940 homes were sold, a year-over-year decline of 44%.

 

The number of homes that went into contract in April also went off a cliff month-over-month. There were 1,277 homes in contract in April compared to 3,127 in March, a 59% drop. Last April, there were 3,969 that went into contract, down 68% year-over-year.

 

In Suffolk, 676 homes went into contract this April compared to 1,799 the year before, a decline of 62%. Nassau saw a similar cratering of pending homes for sale with 403 houses in contract compared to 1,335 last year, a 70% drop.

 

On the bright side, median home prices went up slightly between March and April, ticking up 2% from $485,000 to $496,000. Last April, the median home price stood at $455,000, up 9%.

 

The increase comes in spite of the market area being an epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a statement released by OneKey MLS.

 

Nassau County reported a $562,500 closed median home price in April representing an increase of 11% from $505,000 reported by MLSLI last year. Suffolk County reported a closed median price of $425,000, which represents an 12% increase from $380,000 reported a year ago.

 

Available inventory dropped slightly month-over-month from March to April this year by 6%. There were 13,875 homes on the market in April compared to 14,780 in March. But, that number is down 21% from last year this time, which was at 17,546 units.

 

The drop in sales activity was expected, according to One Key due to the pandemic.