Long Island Housing Market Grows from Last Year

Long Island's housing sales slowed in the fourth quarter of 2016, but are still higher than they were a year ago.

A report released Thursday by Douglas Elliman Real Estate analyzed sales for the Island, and determined that 2016 had the most sales in 14 years, but prices were still much lower than their 2007 highs. They also dropped slightly from the third quarter of 2016.

The average sale price for a Long Island home for the last three months of the year (not including the Hamptons and the North Fork, which were in separate reports), was $470,605, down from the third quarter price of $491,070. Likewise, the number of sales also dropped from quarter to quarter, going from 8,362 to 7.008.

But even with that small shrinkage, the market was stronger than it was a year ago. The average sale price at the end of 2015 was $452,629, and there were only 6,526 sales that quarter.

Home prices still haven't reached their pre-crash highs, though. In 2007, the average sale price was $519,491.

Most of the growth from 2015 to 2016 came from Nassau County, where the average sale price went from $555,709 to $599,108. Suffolk County also saw average prices rise from $358,738 at the end of 2016 to $361,240 at the end of last year.

For the year overall, Nassau had strong sales, with 12,814 homes sold at an average price of $593,236 -- almost returning to its 2007 high of $596,526. Suffolk, however, still has a more to make up. Despite 14,125 sales at an average price of $364,735, the county is still far from its 2007 average of $445,294.