Home prices jump, but sales and inventory slow, states MLSLI report

Long Island home prices rose for yet another month, while sales themselves slowed and inventory increased, Newsday reported. Homes in Suffolk County sold with a median price of $372,875 in March, a 5.9 percent rise from the same month a year earlier, according to data published by the Multiple Listing Service of Long Island. Similarly, Nassau County’s median home sale price rose 3.4 percent last month, to $517,000. Home sales, however, fell 5.8 percent in Suffolk when compared to March 2018. Nassau home sales fell 8.8 percent year-over-year. Those dips could soon be offset by a boost in the number of contract signings last month, which jumped 10 percent in Suffolk and 1.4 percent in Nassau, compared to March 2018. All of these factors have helped create a buyer’s market. “It’s a very competitive environment out there for buyers,” Massapequa-based agent Russ Bonanno told Newsday. “There’s a lot of very serious and very qualified buyers out there.” Nonetheless, Bonanno stressed to the outlet that the market is less competitive for more expensive homes. “As you go up in price, the buyer pool does shrink a bit,” he added. [Newsday]