ALBANY — New York realtors sold 8,465 previously owned homes in May, down 4.1 percent from the 8,826 existing homes they sold in the year-ago month, as mortgage rates remained at elevated levels. Pending sales slid by a similar amount in April, foreshadowing further declines in closed home sales in the next couple of months. […]
ALBANY — New York realtors sold 8,465 previously owned homes in May, down 4.1 percent from the 8,826 existing homes they sold in the year-ago month, as mortgage rates remained at elevated levels.
Pending sales slid by a similar amount in April, foreshadowing further declines in closed home sales in the next couple of months. That’s according to the May housing report that the New York State Association of Realtors (NYSAR) issued on June 21.
“Home sales dropped across New York State in May as mortgage rates continued to remain above 7 percent,” NYSAR said to open its housing report.
NYSAR cites Freddie Mac as indicating mortgage rates hit as high as 7.22 percent in May and settled at an average monthly rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage of 7.06 percent. A year ago, at this time, the interest rate stood at 6.43 percent. Freddie Mac is the more common way of referring to the Virginia–based Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation.
New York sales data
Pending home sales in New York totaled 10,537 in May, a decrease of 4 percent compared from the 10,981 pending sales in the same month in 2023, according to the NYSAR data.
The months’ supply of homes for sale at the end of May stood at 2.9 months, down more than 6 percent from the 3.1 months’ supply at the end of May 2023, per NYSAR’s report. A 6-month to 6.5-month supply is considered a balanced market, the association said.
The inventory of homes for sale totaled 26,076 in May, a decline of 10.8 percent from the May 2023 figure of 29,236.
Amid continued tight supply, home prices continued to rise. The May 2024 statewide median sales price was $422,500, up 8.3 percent from the May 2023 median sales price of $390,000.
New listings of homes for sale in the Empire State rose 2.1 percent to 15,265 in May from 14,957 in the year-prior month.
All home-sales data is compiled from multiple-listing services in New York, and it includes townhomes and condominiums in addition to existing single-family homes, according to NYSAR.
