Long Island Real Estate Hits Record Highs Yet Again

LONG ISLAND, NY — Housing prices across Long Island climbed to new record highs last month, with the market showing no signs of cooling.

For the second month in a row, Suffolk housing prices set a new record. The previous record was set in April, when the median sales price in Suffolk climbed to $540,000. In May, prices jumped to $555,000.

Prices jumped even more in Nassau County. Median sales prices in May were $686,000 — shattering the previous record high of $670,000 set in July 2021.

Year-to-year, it's an 8 percent climb in Nassau, and a whopping 11.2 percent jump in Suffolk.

The spending spree is being driven by a low inventory of homes. Though prices are reaching new highs, the number of homes sold continues to fall. There were 1,270 homes sold in Suffolk, which is a 7.6 percent drop compared to last May. In Nassau, there were 1,128 homes sold in May, a 4.6 percent increase over the same month last year, but still low.

Home prices had started to dip from the record-highs set last summer, but have started increasing again. Pending sale prices are even higher than they have been, meaning that home prices could continue to climb.

Real estate is one of the few areas that hasn't been suffering since the pandemic lockdowns ended in the spring of 2020. It set off a flurry of buying across the Island. And with limited inventory, prices soared and have led to many bidding wars. Buyers with money are paying above asking price, boxing many people out of being able to purchase homes.