Long Island real estate: 5 places where prices rose the fastest in first half of 2025

Donna Cooper and her husband, Randy Martin, have spent years searching for a house in Westbury, hoping to buy near Cooper’s childhood home, where they now live with her 91-year-old mother.

At an open house last month, Cooper, an actor and writer, toured a three-bedroom corner home with a white picket fence listed for $779,000. She walked from room to room, picturing her future.

One space she imagined as a breakfast nook. In another, filled with natural light, she envisioned a writing desk. But finding the right home has been a challenge.

Cooper and Martin said they haven’t felt comfortable buying at today’s prices.

“It’s just, to me, ridiculous,” Cooper said.

Martin, a 68-year-old retired law enforcement officer, added, “I’m too old to be house poor.”

Their search hasn’t been easy in Westbury, one of the areas where prices rose fastest in the first half of 2025. The median sale price there climbed to $806,000 for a single-family home from January through June — a 17.1% increase from $688,500 during the same period in 2024.

A Newsday analysis of community-level sales data found steeper price growth in areas already among Long Island’s most expensive. In Northport, for example, where the median sale topped $1 million, prices rose 20.4% year over year — the fastest rate among places with at least 50 sales.

Like other Northeast suburbs, Long Island has seen far less new home construction than other regions, especially the South, said Jonathan Miller, CEO of Manhattan appraisal firm Miller Samuel, which compiled the data for Newsday. Most new construction, he said, has been luxury housing — fueling faster appreciation in already pricey areas.

"We're building more housing but it's the wrong kind. It doesn't match the market needs, and that's very prevalent in the Northeast because of the lack of land," he said.

One exception was Manhasset, where the median price fell 8.8% to about $1.8 million, as more homes under $2 million hit the market.

But Manhasset was an outlier. The median price across all Long Island home sales, including condos, rose 10% in the first half of the year to $715,000. Prices increased in 57 of the 60 communities with at least 50 sales.

 For buyers like Cooper, that competition can make house hunting feel futile — listings vanish almost as quickly as they appear. She said sometimes she spots a house for sale in her neighborhood only to find that the owner has already found a buyer. 

"We see it's on sale and then it's like, 'Oh, wait it's already off the market.'" said Cooper, who ultimately didn't put an offer on the house she toured. "Obviously, it hasn't been open to the public. That has really stuck in my craw."

Miller said more homeowners might list their properties if lenders offer lower mortgage rates this fall. Still, he predicted it could take five to 10 years before there’s enough supply to bring balance between buyers and sellers.

The number of homes for sale "is in many ways the only metric that matters in terms of understanding the future of housing on Long Island," he said.

Local agents say that scarcity of listings has pushed prices higher in certain areas. Here’s a closer look at five places where home prices rose the fastest in the first half of 2025 — and the buyers and sellers navigating those markets.

Northport

• Median price first half of 2025: $1.09 million
• Median price first half of 2024: $907,500
• Change: 20.4%

Buyers clamored for homes in the historic seaside village during the first half of the year. Despite a median price above $1 million, nearly 59% of sellers received more than their asking price.

"Buyers have to get creative when they make their offers," said Noreen Sweeney, an agent at Daniel Gale Sotheby's International Realty in Northport.

That often means adding escalation clauses to contracts to beat other bids and, in some cases, waiving appraisals, she said. Of course, those strategies favor buyers with ample cash.

When clients come to Northport, agent Sari Eidelkind starts with their must-haves — home size, location or school district — and works backward.

"Some buyers are very particular about what they want and where they're willing to go," said Eidelkind, an associate broker at Lucky to Live Here Realty in Cold Spring Harbor. "It sometimes takes a little bit longer due to the lack of inventory."

The village’s amenities include the John W. Engeman Theater, downtown restaurants and several harborside parks. Its annual Cow Harbor Day festival and the Cow Harbor 10K each September draw thousands, and a farmers market runs from June to November.

Northport’s real estate data includes sales in the village as well as Fort Salonga, Asharoken and Eatons Neck, covering homes zoned for the Northport-East Northport, Harborfields and Kings Park school districts.

Mac Laterza, 78, bought a renovated three-bedroom ranch in Eatons Neck in January, returning to the area where she raised her children before moving to Verona, New Jersey, five years ago. She said she missed being near the beach.

"I love the smell of the water, the feeling of the sand," Laterza said. "For me personally, that's one of the main attractions."

She paid the asking price, which she declined to disclose, and said it was worth it to be near her son and his family, who live in Northport village.

"This bidding war thing was new," Laterza said. "I don't remember that in 1980. I remember you could offer maybe a little less and somebody might be willing to take a little bit less in those days. But now it's a little bit of a changed ballgame."

Dix Hills

• Median price first half of 2025: $1.2 million
• Median price first half of 2024: $999,000
• Change: 20.1%

Prices soared in Dix Hills, where a slew of custom-built mansions on acre-plus lots have sold this year.

Local agents say buyers appreciate the area's access to major highways and two top-rated school districts in Half Hollow Hills and Commack.

Competition varies by price point, with homes under $1 million attracting the most attention, said Deepa Sachdev, an associate broker at Exit Realty Achieve. Sellers in the luxury segment must price carefully or risk longer waits, she added.

Dix Hills often attracts families trading up from smaller homes elsewhere on Long Island, Sachdev said. She has also seen more multigenerational buyers — parents and adult children purchasing homes together.

"People are looking to move from smaller places to bigger places with families, and I think primarily the attraction tends to be the schools," she said. "That's what we hear from buyers that they're moving in for the school district."

Glen Cove

• Median price first half of 2025: $874,500
• Median price first half of 2024: $740,000
• Change: 18.2%

One of Long Island’s only two cities, Glen Cove offers homes across a wide range of prices — from smaller starter houses around $600,000 to Gold Coast estates nearing $5 million, said Patrick Hall, a lifelong resident and associate broker at Branch Real Estate.

Unlike many Long Island communities where sales have slowed, Glen Cove saw a jump in activity. Closings rose 20% year over year to 60 deals in the first half of 2025.

The city offers parks, beaches and golf courses, Hall said, along with two free summer concert series — Downtown Sounds and the Morgan Park Summer Music Festival.

"Glen Cove has a lot to offer," he said, "but I think it's lack of inventory that's creating this whole buzz."

Buyers, meanwhile, face a challenging market. Some sellers list homes at attractively low prices, only for them to sell for tens of thousands more, said Melinda Toner, a Compass agent in Locust Valley.

To compete, Toner said, buyers need a lender’s preapproval letter in hand and must be flexible on contract terms. Few sellers will accept offers contingent on another home’s sale.

"We have buyers bidding above asking price, and they're losing out still," Toner said. "It's a hard time for buyers."

Westbury

• Median price first half of 2025: $806,000
• Median price first half of 2024: $688,500
• Change: 17.1%

Homebuyers are drawn to Westbury for its proximity to parks, shopping and the village’s community events, said Clara Valderrama, an associate broker with Douglas Elliman.

Sales in Westbury include deals in the village as well as the hamlets of New Cassel and Salisbury. Homes in those areas are served by Westbury, Carle Place, East Meadow and Hicksville schools.

Valderrama said the prospect of higher mortgage costs haven’t discouraged buyers, fueling competition. 

"It's definitely not enough people selling homes these days," she said. "I think mostly what's holding them up is there is really no place to go. The people who are selling the houses are the people that have to sell."

Summer concerts and street festivals have been among Audrey Hayes’ favorite parts of life in Westbury, which completed a downtown revitalization in 2023. The 69-year-old recently listed her three-bedroom corner house — surrounded by lush landscaping from years of gardening — for $779,000. She and her husband, George, plan to retire to North Carolina, closer to their grandchildren.

Hayes' home, the three-bedroom house surrounded by lush landscaping that Cooper and Martin had toured, initially sat on the market for a few weeks. But she said more buyers expressed interest after mortgage rates started falling, and the couple accepted an offer in late September.

"It's bittersweet in the sense, even though we're happy to be relocating to North Carolina after retirement, it's difficult leaving the happy home I put so much heartfelt love into," Hayes said. "But spending time with the grandkids, that'll make up for the bitter and watching them grow and develop, that'll be sweet."

New Hyde Park

• Median price first half of 2025: $930,000
• Median price first half of 2024: $810,000
• Change: 14.8%

Home prices and home sizes have climbed together in New Hyde Park as more owners renovate rather than move, keeping listings scarce, said Grace Desiderio, an associate broker with ERA Caputo Realty.

Desiderio remembers when homes in New Hyde Park sold for $200,000 in the late 1990s. But a wave of builders renovating Capes into larger homes in the early 2000s led to higher prices. Now, $1 million listings are common.

"It's mind boggling where we are as far as pricing," she said.

The village offers leafy neighborhoods just across the Queens border with express trains that arrive in Manhattan in just over 30 minutes.

Sales data covers the village as well as unincorporated areas, such as North New Hyde Park, Garden City Park and Herricks.

More houses have started to come to market this fall, but Desiderio doesn't expect buyers to get a break anytime soon.

"I don't see it switching to a buyer's market at all," Desiderio said. "The pristine houses for $1.2 million, move-in ready, someone who's looking in that price range, they're going to pay for it."