Long Island home sales dipped as prices and inventory rose in the first quarter: report

Fewer people bought homes in Nassau and Suffolk counties during the start of 2019, but the median home price and inventory both rose, according to data published by Douglas Elliman. Closed home sales fell less than 1 percent from the start of 2018, to 5,659, but that decrease was also a 24.1 percent drop from the fourth quarter of last year. The median sales price rose nearly 5 percent, from $410,000 in the first quarter of last year to $429,999 during the first three months of 2019. “Prices are up, but it’s not like the bubble days,” Ann Conroy, president of Elliman’s Long Island division, told Newsday. Elliman’s report noted that 2018 ended with 9,572 homes on the market, but that inventory jumped 23.6 percent in the first quarter of this year, to 11,828. Compared to the same period last year, however, the increase is only a 7.3 percent jump, per Elliman data. Homes were selling a little quicker at the end of 2018, but during the first quarter of this year they spent an average of 81 days on the market, compared to 84 during the same period last year. Long Island’s luxury market told a similar story, as sales fell 23.4 percent from the final quarter of 2018, to 581, but increased more than 2 percent during the first three months of this year. Elliman’s report noted that the median sales price stayed relatively flat throughout 2018, but jumped 7.1 percent from the end of the year, to $1.07 million. Inventory also grew from the 3,426 homes listed for sale in the first quarter of 2018 to the 3,832 on the market during the past quarter. [Douglas Elliman]