Long Island housing payments double national median, Redfin data shows
Long Island housing payments are double national median due to high home prices, experts said. Credit: Getty Images/Khafizh Amrullah
The median monthly housing payment for Long Island homeowners is approximately twice the nationwide median, according to data provided by Redfin.
Across the United States, the median monthly housing payment — calculated using estimations of mortgage, property tax and homeowners' insurance costs — approached a low at the turn of the new year. In the four-week period that ended Jan. 11, the nationwide figure was $2,413, according to the brokerage.
But on Long Island, the median monthly payment was $4,881 in December. During six non-consecutive months of 2025 — January, February, June, July, August and September — the payment surpassed $5,000, Redfin data showed.
As the CEO of real estate appraisal firm Miller Samuel, Jonathan Miller said the cost discrepancy was "not surprising," because Long Island housing prices are "about double" housing prices in the country as a whole.
In an email, Miller identified this data point as "a snapshot of the affordability challenge that participants in the housing market face."
Newsday recently reported that the median sales price for a single-family home in Suffolk County was $700,000 in December, according to OneKey MLS data. In Nassau, the corresponding figure was $835,000.
Though the median sale price in Suffolk County had decreased $25,000 from November, its Nassau counterpart had increased 4.4%, Newsday reported.
To calculate median monthly housing payment, Redfin applies a 30-year fixed mortgage rate to the median sale price of homes sold during that month, assuming the purchaser made a 20% downpayment. Redfin factors in local property taxes, using 1.25% of the home's sale price when recent tax estimations are unavailable, as well as home insurance estimated to be 0.5% of the home's value, according to Redfin communications director Angela Cherry.
The comparatively high median housing payment on the Island is the product of factors like high home sale prices, high real estate taxes and increasing home insurance premiums, said Stacey Krumholz and Janet Hoda, of Long Island Housing Partnership.
"It's almost where … it's not affordable," said Krumholz, LIHP's acting director of counseling.
LIHP offers state-funded counseling for those having problems making mortgage payments or facing foreclosure, Krumholz said. The Hauppauge-based organization can be a resource for homeowners by providing education about budgeting, talking through next steps when mortgage payments are lagging or facilitating free legal assistance if negotiating with the mortgage servicer is no longer an option.
"Don't take your time about reaching out to find out what you can do," Krumholz said.
Long Islanders who cannot afford to make their mortgage payments often have to make a difficult decision.
"If they're saying they can no longer afford the house, and they have equity in it, it's a very emotional time for them. And, understandably, they do not want to give up their house," said Hoda, a HUD-certified counselor who works with default and foreclosure applicants.
"We try to explain to them that walking away with the equity you have in your property is far more important than the emotional attachment that you might have to the property."
Can you lower taxes, insurance and mortgage payments?
Lowering the components of monthly housing costs is challenging on Long Island, where home prices remain high.
"We've got a tough market here," said Dan Waldeck, partner at Amityville-based The Liberty Company Insurance Brokers.
For those looking to minimize the cost of home insurance, Waldeck offered several avenues to explore.
"If you have a $500 deductible on your building, your dwelling, and you're not ever going to put a claim in and you want to use it more as a catastrophe-type policy, then you could absolutely increase that if it's something that you can cover," Waldeck said.
Increasing the deductible to $5,000, for example, might be more suitable and lower the cost of insurance, Waldeck said.
Homeowners who have auto insurance through a different carrier might become eligible for a multi-policy discount if they get car and home insurance with the same provider, Waldeck said. Sometimes, there are discounts available for homeowners to have an alarm system that automatically contacts central station in the case of an emergency, he said.
But outside of changing insurance carriers, reducing deductibles and asking about eligibility for discounts, Waldeck said there is not much a homeowner can do to minimize cost and stay protected.
"You might have jewelry on the policy. You can remove that, but you're sacrificing coverage," Waldeck said. "We wouldn't recommend that."
Grieve property taxes every year
As the president of Plainview-based Property Tax Reduction Consultants, Sean Acosta has spent nearly four decades working with homeowners who were trying to lower their property tax expense.
Acosta gets paid — at a rate of 50% of the savings — only if he gets his client a reduction, he said. He does not charge for information about exemptions.
He checks to make sure the assessor's records are consistent with the information on property tax filings. This means verifying such details as the number of bathrooms or square footage total.
Acosta also looks at maps to take into account various environmental factors.
"If you're next to a gas station, or a train, I make sure that we put that in the report because that does affect your home," he said. "If you've got somebody on the railroad tracks or next to a fire house, it's not worth the same amount of money as a house two blocks away."
Acosta recommends homeowners check to make sure they are receiving any exemptions for which they qualify. For example, he said, there are exemptions for senior citizens through the New York State School Tax Relief (STAR) program, first-time homebuyers, new construction purchasers, veterans and first responders.
"A lot of these people work for free for us, and they should get these exemptions," Acosta said of first responders. "And they have to make sure that they apply for them."
Just as filing income taxes is an annual activity, Acosta recommends homeowners check and grieve their taxes every year. One year, the amount may be correct, another year it may not be, he said.
Homeowners do not have to use a company to grieve their taxes, but Acosta cautions that missing a deadline means having to wait another year to file a grievance.
"It's just like doing your regular taxes," he said. "You've got to make sure every single year, you're paying your fair share."
For some clients, he has achieved a property tax reduction 10 years in a row because neighborhoods have changed, Acosta said.
In Nassau County, Acosta said homeowners can file a grievance from September through March 1 this year. In Suffolk County, the deadline to file is the third Tuesday in May. From there, it takes about a year to know whether the homeowner will receive a reduction, he said.
Arielle Dollinger joined Newsday as a staff reporter in 2022. Previously, she covered local and national news as a freelancer for The New York Times, Newsday and other outlets.
