Nassau County Strongest Seller’s Market In America, Report Finds

NASSAU COUNTY, NY. — Nassau County was the strongest seller’s market of the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the country in November, recently published data from nationwide real estate firm Redfin shows. The data shows Nassau with 39 percent more prospective buyers than homeowners looking to sell, bucking a nationwide trend toward a buyer’s market.

Redfin published its findings Dec. 23, in which Nassau placed atop a list of seller’s markets that includes Montgomery, P.A., Newark, N.J., New Brunswick, N.J., Milwaukee, San Francisco and Cleveland. In this instance, a market with more than 10 percent more buyers than sellers was classified as a sellers’ market, while markets where the inverse is true were considered buyers’ markets. The methodology Redfin used to compile its data can be found here, while the data is available here.

Traditionally, the balance of buyers and sellers dictates who has more leverage when negotiating the purchase of real estate. In a buyer’s market, homeowners might need to make concessions on price or other factors to get the deal over the line, while a seller’s market could force buyers to pony up a bit more.

Nationwide, the balance is almost the opposite of Nassau County: Redfin estimated over 37 percent more home sellers than buyers in the U.S. housing market in November, up from 35.6 percent in October. Driving that trend is a decline in buyers, as the number of buyers dropped an estimated 2.5 percent from October to November, the biggest monthly decline since April. The new estimated buyer population — 1.43 million — is the second-lowest on record. The lowest? April 2020, when the real estate market felt the effects of the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the number of buyers has dropped across America, data still shows Nassau as a place where people are looking to buy; of the 50 most populous metropolitan areas in the country, Nassau ranked twelfth in number of buyers, outpacing cities including Baltimore, Boston, Denver and Miami.

As for Nassau's neighbors to the west, New York City's real estate market is relatively balanced, with a one-percent difference between its number of buyers and sellers. The number of buyers in the city, Redfin data shows, is down 13.6-percent year-over-year, while the number of sellers is up five-and-a-half percentage points in the same timespan.