August Housing Data: Long Island Median Home Prices Inch Upward, Number of Homes Sold in Nassau Decreases
Multiple Listing Service of Long Island (MLSLI), a computerized network of 2,280 real estate offices located in Nassau, Suffolk, as well as Queens and Brooklyn, recently released its August 2019 data report.
Suffolk showed an increase for the price of closed homes versus a year ago. The median price of a closed home in Suffolk clicked in at $415,000 representing a 3.8 percent increase over $400,000 reported last year. Nassau County reported a $555,000 closed median home price in August. This represents less than a 1 percent increase over $550,000 reported by MLSLI last year.
In Suffolk, there were 1,744 homes sold this August compared to 1,835 last year in the same time period, a 5 percent decrease. Comparatively, in July Suffolk saw an increase of 5 percent in the total number of homes sold, 1,719 homes this July versus 1,630 last year.
Nassau County saw a much larger drop in the number of homes sold year-over-year this August. This year there were 1,321 homes sold in August compared to 1,501 a year ago, representing a 12 percent decrease. This extends a trend in Nassau seen over the last three months. In July there was a slight 0.9% decrease in the year-over-year number and in June there was a 10.8 percent decrease from the year before.
The current available inventory of homes on the market in Suffolk County, according to the MLSLI report, is 7,174 with a median list price of $545,344. In Nassau that number is 5,906 with a median list price of $679,000.
All numbers include residential home (single family and multi family), condominiums and co-ops.
In a separate monthly market indicators report MLSLI said that despite a record-setting economic expansion that has lasted over ten years, where the unemployment rate has dropped from 10.0 percent in 2009 to 3.7 percent, many consumers continue to struggle financially.
“Low mortgage interest rates have helped offset low housing affordability, but high home prices are outpacing median household income growth,” the organization said in its statement.