ALBANY, N.Y. — New York realtors sold 6,147 previously owned homes in February, down 34.3 percent from the 9,351 homes they sold in the year-ago month. It marks the lowest number of closed sales in month-over-month comparisons since February 2014 when there were just 5,700 units sold in the state. That’s according to the monthly […]
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York realtors sold 6,147 previously owned homes in February, down 34.3 percent from the 9,351 homes they sold in the year-ago month.
It marks the lowest number of closed sales in month-over-month comparisons since February 2014 when there were just 5,700 units sold in the state. That’s according to the monthly housing report that the New York State Association of Realtors (NYSAR) released on March 21.
Pending sales also declined more than 8 percent in February, which foreshadows further declines in closed home sales in the next couple months, though at a slower pace.
“With a continued lack of inventory and interest rates starting to rise once again, closed sales dropped to their lowest point in nearly a decade,” NYSAR said to open its housing report.
NYSAR cites Freddie Mac as indicating that interest rates “escalated every week” during the month of February. The monthly rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage started the month at 6.09 percent but ended February at 6.5 percent.
Freddie Mac is the more common way of referring to the Virginia–based Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation.
New York sales data
NYSAR reported 9,905 new listings in February, down 15.8 percent from 11,760 in the same month in 2022. Pending home sales totaled 8,593 in the second month of the new year, a drop of 8.1 percent from the 9,350 pending sales in February 2022, according to the NYSAR data.
The declining home sales are translating to lower home prices. The February 2023 statewide median sales price fell more than 6 percent to $375,000 from $400,000 a year earlier.
The months’ supply of homes for sale at the end of February stood at 2.8 months, up nearly 8 percent from 2.6 months a year ago, per NYSAR’s report. A 6 month to 6.5-month supply is considered to be a balanced market, the association said.
The inventory of homes for sale in the Empire State totaled 30,308 in February, a decrease of 8.2 percent from the year-prior figure of 33,031.
It represents the 40th straight month that the housing inventory has fallen in year-over-year comparisons, NYSAR noted.
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.
