Suffolk homes' median closing price rises

The median closing price of a home in Suffolk County rose to $315,000 last month after dropping in April to an eight-year low of $290,800, Multiple Listing Service of Long Island reported Friday.

Overall, the median closing price on the Island and Queens was essentially flat last month -- moving to $350,000 from April's $348,500 -- and unchanged from a year earlier, the trade group said.

These up, down and flat movements have dizzied market experts trying to predict trends. Nassau's median closing price was $399,000 in May, down from $406,300 in April and up from $395,000 a year earlier, the report said. Suffolk's was $316,500 in May 2010, data show.

"It's just an indication of the market trying to stabilize and get some normalization," said Mary Adams, a 25-year real estate veteran and broker-owner of Century 21 in Babylon.

Foreclosures and short sales, in which the lender takes less than owed on the mortgage, have been squeezing prices, real estate experts said.

"It doesn't help the numbers, but it's clearing out that end of the market," Adams said.

Before the buying boom started in 2002, prices tamely rose from year to year and went up or down within the year, depending on the season.

But little certainty is expected on the real estate scene until distressed sales and the artificial effects of last year's home buyers tax credit are flushed out of the housing system, market experts said.

Take pending contracts. They jumped 41 percent from May 2010, when the market lost steam after the contract-signing deadline expired for the tax credit, the trade group said.

Also this year, except for February, monthly closings on the Island have been down by double-digit percentages compared with last year, figures show, again because of increases in 2010 from the tax credit. May had 1,932 closings, down 11.5 percent from 2,184 a year earlier, the report said.