LI Housing Market Hits New Highs As Coronavirus Rebound Continues

LONG ISLAND, NY — The Long Island housing market hit new highs in December as home buying continued to rebound after the massive slump caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The real estate market took a hard hit in the spring during the height of the coronavirus lockdowns. Sales hit tremendously low levels. But when the lockdown restrictions lifted, the market rebounded hard, and sales have been growing since May, along with the prices of homes.

From November to December, sales across Long Island jumped nearly 20 percent, according to OneKey MLS. Home prices also saw some big jumps.

In Nassau County, the median sales price for December was $606,500 — the first time the median price has risen above $600,000, according to OneKey. That's a 13 percent increase over last December, and $7,500 higher than the previous record set in November.

Suffolk also saw a big year-over-year climb, with an average sale price in December of $480,000 — up 16.5 percent over the same time last year. It was also $5,250 higher than November's median price.

Both counties also saw a big jump in the number of homes sold. Nassau had 1,564 properties sold in December, which is a nearly 35 percent jump over the previous year. And in Suffolk, it was 2,121 properties sold — an increase of more than 33 percent.

Pending sale prices in Nassau held steady from November to December at $600,000, and dropped slightly in Suffolk, from $477,000 to $468,650. Still, those are both much higher than December 2019 (11 percent higher in Nassau and 17 percent higher in Suffolk).