Staten Island has no street grid, lacks free bridges and voted for Donald Trump, but the “forgotten borough” has one thing in common with the rest of New York City: its housing market.
Rising prices? Check. Depleted inventory? Yup. Falling sales? You bet.
New listings on Staten Island in June fell 15.5 percent from the same month last year to 612, while pending sales were down 27 percent to 379, according to a report from the Staten Island Board of Realtors. Inventory levels fell 22.3 percent to 1,440 units.
Key indicators that have largely evened out to pre-pandemic levels are a promising sign for borough’s the market in the long run, SIBOR CEO Sandy Krueger said, but hopeful buyers face a steep climb.
“Affordability has been the principal victim over the last two years and is still a large problem, particularly for those who are trying to enter the market,” Krueger said.
Prices of Staten Island homes continued to rise in June with the median sale price up 13.2 percent from a year ago to $685,000. The number of days that sold homes spent on the market was down 34 percent to 53 days.
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Nationally, higher prices, coupled with the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate approaching 6 percent, have strained buyers’ budgets and cooled demand, with home sales and mortgage applications falling sharply from a year ago.
For the first time, the U.S. median sale price of existing homes recently exceeded $400,000, up 15 percent from the same period a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors.
However, as buyers are squeezed out of the market, housing supply is expected to improve. Price growth is already moderating, although at a pace that would have to continue for the rest of the year to reach what used to be normal.