LI home sales continue to wane as listings near record low

Listen to this article

The Long Island housing market is still struggling amid higher mortgage rates and a near record low number of available listings. 

There were 1,781 homes in Nassau and Suffolk counties contracted for sale last month, according to preliminary numbers from OneKey MLS. That’s down nearly 15 percent from the 2,087 Long Island homes contracted for sale the previous month and a 3.4 percent drop from the 1,843 homes contracted for sale in Nov. 2022. 

Last month’s pending home sales were 33.6 percent fewer than the 2,682 pending home sales recorded in Nov. 2021. 

Home sales on Long Island continue to be hampered by a lack of available inventory and the supply of listings plunged to a near record low level last month. 

There were 4,654 Long Island homes listed for sale with OneKey MLS as of Thursday—2,043 in Nassau and 2,611 in Suffolk. That’s nearly 8.5 percent fewer than the 5,084 Long Island homes that were listed for sale at the end of October and 22.6 percent fewer than the 6,021 homes that were listed for sale at the end of Nov. 2022. 

Brokers continue to blame the lack of inventory on higher mortgage rates, which are dissuading homeowners from putting their properties on the market since most would have much higher monthly payments on their next home. Though rates have eased slightly from their recent highs, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate in New York this week is 7.41 percent, according to bankrate.com. 

The supply-and-demand imbalance in the housing market has fueled higher home prices, though the median prices of closed home sales retreated somewhat in November. 

The median price of closed home sales in Nassau last month was $710,000, down slightly from the record high of $720,000 recorded in October, but still 7.3 percent higher than the $661,500 median price from Nov. 2022. 

In Suffolk, the median price of closed home sales last month was $598,500, slipping back a little from October’s record high of $600,000, but a 9.8 percent rise from the $545,000 median recorded in Nov. 2022.