New York home sales slide nearly 15 percent in December

Image Credit: NYSAR

ALBANY — New York realtors sold 13,649 previously owned homes in December, down 14.6 percent from the 15,974 homes sold a year ago, as inventory continued to fall. However, pending sales rose 4 percent in December, which points to a rise in closed home sales in forthcoming months. The data comes from the New York […]

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ALBANY — New York realtors sold 13,649 previously owned homes in December, down 14.6 percent from the 15,974 homes sold a year ago, as inventory continued to fall.

However, pending sales rose 4 percent in December, which points to a rise in closed home sales in forthcoming months.

The data comes from the New York State Association of Realtors (NYSAR)’s December housing-market report issued Jan. 20.

New York sales data

Housing inventory in the Empire State plummeted 30.4 percent to close out 2021. Homes for sale fell to 30,654 units in December 2021 from 44,071 homes available in December 2020. 

The months’ supply of inventory fell to just 2.3 months in the final month of 2021, a 30.4 percent drop from 3.7 months of supply available in December 2020. A 6 month to 6.5 month supply is considered to be a balanced market, according to NYSAR.

Pending sales in New York totaled 10,494 homes in December, an increase of 4 percent from pending sales of 10,087 in the same month in 2020, according to the NYSAR data.

Amid the tight supply, house prices continued to chug higher. The December 2021 statewide median sales price rose 8.3 percent to $377,000 from the December 2020 median sales price of $348,000.

Central New York data

Realtors in Onondaga County sold 495 previously owned homes in December, down 16.8 percent from the 595 homes they sold in the same month in 2020. The median sales price jumped 12.1 percent to $185,000 from $165,000 a year prior, according to the NYSAR report.

Realtors sold 210 homes in Oneida County in December, up 4 percent compared to the 202 homes sold in December 2020. The median sales price increased more than 17 percent to nearly $182,000 from $155,000 in the year-earlier month.

Realtors in Broome County sold 186 existing homes in December, up 1.1 percent from 184 in December 2020, according to the NYSAR report. The median sales price fell 3.8 percent to $139,500 from $145,000 a year ago.

In Jefferson County, realtors closed on the sale of 155 homes in December, down 0.6 percent from 156 a year prior, and the median sales price of nearly $194,000 was up almost 7 percent from $181,500 in December 2020, according to the NYSAR data.

All home-sales data is compiled from multiple-listing services in New York state and it includes townhomes and condominiums in addition to existing single-family homes, according to NYSAR.       

Eric Reinhardt: