Long Island home prices reached records in the spring but fewer homes sold

Long Island home prices reached a record level for the fifth consecutive time during the second quarter, but the region saw the fewest deals close during the typically busy spring season since 2020 as the area's shortage of homes for sale deepened.

The median home price on Long Island, excluding the East End, rose to $725,000 in the second quarter, according to a new report released Thursday by real estate brokerage Douglas Elliman and appraisal firm Miller Samuel. That represented an 8.2% increase from the second quarter a year ago.

While individual sellers may have seen prices rise, the real estate market as a whole was unusually quiet during the spring. There were 4,634 closings during the second quarter, which was the fewest during the April-to-June stretch since the pandemic disrupted the market in 2020. Before that year, the last time Long Island recorded such a low number of deals in the spring was 2012.

A shortage of houses on the market, mortgage rates near 7% and uncertainty tied to President Donald Trump’s tariff policies all contributed to a sluggish quarter for sales, said Jonathan Miller, CEO of Miller Samuel.

“It was underwhelming,” Miller said of the spring market. “This is the second spring in a row that we didn’t have a robust spring market like we typically expect.”

Those selling homes have benefited from the lack of listings, which has pushed up prices. There were about half as many houses and condos for sale at the end of June as there were five years ago, and the number of listings on Long Island, excluding the East End, dropped about 4% at the end of June compared with the same month a year ago.

As a result, nearly 59% of sellers who closed in the second quarter received above their last asking price, according to the report.

“When we have a home come on the market that’s priced properly by the agent, we’re finding multiple bids is the norm,” said Todd Bourgard, CEO of Douglas Elliman for Long Island, Hamptons and North Fork. “They do an open house on the weekend and by Monday contracts are on their way out.”

The report follows previous data released by OneKey MLS, the local multiple listing service, that showed record home prices in Nassau and Suffolk counties in June. Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel release data quarterly and report data on sales in the Hamptons and North Fork separately from the rest of Long Island.

Nicole Burke, an associate broker at Charles Rutenberg Realty in Plainview, said she believes local home prices are due to flatten out after years of testing the limits of what buyers can afford. Burke said she has started to notice sellers becoming more open to accepting offers from buyers with down payments of less than 20% of the purchase price.

First-time homebuyers often have to adjust their expectations to land a deal, said Burke, who often sells homes in Uniondale and Hempstead.

“Buyers are being more savvy and  looking at wh at they can afford monthly,” Burke said. “They have options. They’ll move farther out east, where they can get more of a house, more land and the taxes are lower.”

The competitiveness of the market can vary widely from town to town based on how many homes are available, said Meg Smith, an associate broker at Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty in Bay Shore. Limited supply in areas such as Brightwaters and Great River, where the number of listings was in the single digits as of midweek, can drive prices higher, she said. 

The rise in mortgage rates over the past three years has kept some sellers tied to their houses. Homeowners looking to sell and stay on Long Island are often disappointed with their potential monthly obligation, Smith said.

“They could be downsizing to a smaller house, and their monthly payment could be higher,” Smith said. “It doesn’t make sense if they’re not moving off Long Island to where the prices are significantly less.”