Long Island housing market’s future uncertain amid COVID-19 pandemic

The coronavirus pandemic has “upended” the housing market on Long Island, but it’s still too early to tell what the long-term effects will be, Long Island Business News reported. Pending home sales in Nassau and Suffolk counties were up by nearly five percent year-over-year in January and February, but last week, the two counties saw “half the number of homes contracted for sale… compared with the same week a year ago,” down to 356 from 676, according to the outlet. Prices may not end up dropping, however, because inventory is down. “It’s not like a storm, such as Hurricane Sandy, that comes and goes,” New York State Association of Realtors president Jennifer Stevenson told the outlet. “We don’t know when it’s going to end. We still have low interest rates and low inventory so we’re going to have to see.” [LIBN]