Nassau home prices, sales rise; Suffolk sales decline

Thursday March 14, 2013 3:13 PM By Maura McDermott

Photo credit: Howard Schnapp, 2012 | A for-sale sign on a Dix Hills property in the past year.

Long Island’s housing market perked up a bit last month, as buyers continued to shake off the impact of superstorm Sandy.

Nassau County saw a small uptick in home prices and sales compared to the previous February, according to a report released Thursday by the Multiple Listing Service of Long Island.

In Suffolk County, the number of sales fell year-over-year and prices remained stagnant. However, in both counties pending sales rose sharply year-over-year, while the number of homes on the market dropped.

The median home price rose by 2.2 percent year-over-year in Nassau County, to $383,200. There were 589 sales, an uptick of 1.6 percent compared to February 2012.

Nassau County saw a big boost in the number of homes going into contract, with 832 pending sales, a 14 percent bump from the previous February. However, the median price for a home going into contract remained virtually unchanged, at $385,500.

There were 6,480 Nassau  homes for sale last month, a 27 percent drop compared to the same period last year. That makes for an 11-month supply at the current pace of sales. A healthy market has a six- to eight-month supply, brokers say.

In Suffolk County, the median price of $298,700 was almost unchanged from the previous February -- an increase of just 0.3 percent. There were 615 home sales, 3 percent fewer than last February.

There were 875 pending sales in Suffolk County, a nearly 11 percent increase over the previous February. The median price of a home going into contract was $315,000, an increase of 3.3 percent from the same period last year. The county had 9,068 homes for sale -- a nearly 22 percent decline from the previous February, but still a nearly 15-month supply.   

Tags: Multiple Listing Service of Long Island , real estate , housing , home prices , home sales