Report: Queens housing prices fall

Median sales prices in Queens fell 5.2 percent to $460,000 in the fourth quarter, down from $485,000 in last year’s fourth quarter, according to a report released yesterday by Radar Logic.

The report, prepared by appraiser Jonathan Miller for brokerage Prudential Douglas Elliman, showed a decline in median sales prices across the overall Long Island-Queens market. Prices dropped by 3.2 percent to $425,000 this quarter, compared to $439,000 in the fourth quarter last year.

Miller, Radar Logic’s executive vice president and director of research, said the numbers have fluctuated between stable and weak for the last few quarters.

“I guess my concern would be with inventory levels, which appear to be rising, and the number of sales, which appear to be falling,” he said. “Those two factors are placing downward pressure on pricing.”

Listing inventory increased 41.3 percent overall compared to last year’s fourth quarter, the report said.

In Queens, listing inventory increased by 53.4 percent to 12,559 units, compared to 8,186 units last year. Miller said he saw signs of “general weakness” in Queens, where home sales fell 27.2 percent.

The luxury market – the upper 10 percent of the market — remained stable, however, with median sales prices up by 1.6 percent to $965,000 from the prior year quarter’s $950,000.

A large number of high-end condo closings in Long Island City, Queens, drove condo prices higher, as the median sales price increased 14.6 percent to $275,000, the report said.

In Nassau, the median sales price fell to $460,000 in the fourth quarter, down 3 from the prior year. The median sales price in Suffolk dropped to $375,000, down 3.8 percent.