Where are Long Island home prices actually headed?
If home contract prices are reliable bellwethers of closing prices to come, then expect a teensy dip in prices the next few months.
Last month, the median closing price for Long Island and Queens was $354,000 while $350,000 was the median contract price. That’s a 1.1 percent difference.
Usually, these are contracts that go to closing about three months later or longer nowadays because lenders are double checking buyers’ financial standings.
But how much predicting can one do with contract prices? Real estate agents have been looking at them for clues to where prices will go in the next few months.
For the past 14 months, $350,000 or $355,000 has usually been the median contract price.
But for most months of last year, the median closing price has been above $350,000, going as high as $385,000 in August.
For us novices, it’s not clear why closing prices are consistently higher than contract prices from months ago.
Any real estate agents want to comment?