A mixed bag for Long Island home sales in February, but spring looms

Home sale prices in Suffolk and Nassau counties had a mixed February with the former seeing an increase and the latter a plateau, Long Island Business News reported. The median price of pending home sales in Nassau last month was $500,000, the same as it was in January and just $500 higher than it was a year prior, according to data published by the Multiple Listing Service of Long Island. That median price matched the lowest median price for Nassau over the past year. In Suffolk, the median price for pending home sales rose $4,000 from January, to $374,000, which was 3.9 percent higher than the $360,000 median a year earlier. Overall, pending home sales in both counties rose 5.8 percent in February when compared to the same time last year. There were 2,177 home sales in February 2018 and 2,303 last month. Nassau had only 966 homes go to contract last month, a 1.8 percent uptick from the 949 contracted for sale a year prior. Suffolk, however, had 1,337 pending home sales last month, up 8.9 percent from 1,228 pending sales in February 2018. Long Island Press likened the splits to a “tale of two Long Islands,” with the market “getting more favorable to buyers as moving season arrives in April,” although “competition remains fierce for starter homes.” Newsday noted that declining sales and growing inventory in Nassau and Suffolk gives buyers more leverage in negotiations. Within the last two months, pending sales on Long Island have risen more than 8 percent over the same period in 2018. Inventory has also continued its climb with 10,910 homes listed for sale across Long Island, 6.2 percent more than the 10,273 listed at the end of February 2018. During that time, listings in Nassau jumped 12.7 percent, to 4,888, while Suffolk saw a 1.5 percent increase, to 5,934. [LIBN]