Long Island Housing Prices Stay Near Record Levels

LONG ISLAND, NY — Despite the cold winter months, Long Island's housing market has stayed red hot. Prices of homes have remained near record highs, and data shows that they could climb past those highs in the coming weeks.

When home sales were allowed to resume in the summer after being shut down through the spring, the real estate market rebounded. Inventory was limited, however, so prices began to climb. In December, housing prices in Nassau and Suffolk counties reached all-time highs.

OneKey Multiple Listing Service has just released data for housing prices in February. And while prices are not quite as high as December, they're close.

According to OneKey, the median sale price of homes in Nassau in February was $600,000 — down slightly from the December high of $605,000. In Suffolk County, the median sale price was $475,000, which is also $5,000 less from the all-time high in December.

The sales prices are a huge jump from the same time last year. According to OneKey, the median sale price in Nassau in February 2020 was $525,000. In Suffolk, it was $402,444.

The number of homes sold is way down from December, but still much higher than last year. In Nassau County, there were 1,082 sales in February, down from 1,627 in December. But that is more than 21 percent higher than February 2020, which had 891 sales.

The trend is similar in Suffolk, which had 1,383 sales in February, down from a whopping 2,197 in December. But it's 22 percent over February 2020's 1,134 sales.

If the numbers for pending sales hold out, then March could set new records for home sales. According to OneKey MLS, the pending median sale price for homes in Nassau is $636,750 and $490,000 in Suffolk.

Experts attributed the explosion in prices to pent-up demand during the pandemic. When the housing markets opened again, it set off a flurry of home buying. And with limited supply, sellers were able to charge more for their homes, and buyers would get into bidding wars.