ALBANY, N.Y. — New York state realtors closed on the sale of 7,420 previously owned homes in January, down 34.3 percent from the 11,300 homes sold in the year-ago month. It marks the lowest number of homes sold in a month since May 2020, according to the monthly housing report that the New York State […]
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York state realtors closed on the sale of 7,420 previously owned homes in January, down 34.3 percent from the 11,300 homes sold in the year-ago month.
It marks the lowest number of homes sold in a month since May 2020, according to the monthly housing report that the New York State Association of Realtors (NYSAR) issued.
“Homes sales dropped across the Empire State to start 2023 to the lowest point since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic,” NYSAR said to open the housing report.
One bit of good news in January was a drop in the average interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, the association noted.
New York sales data
Pending home sales in New York state totaled 7,663 in January, down 11.8 percent from 8,688 in the same month in 2022, according to the NYSAR data. This foreshadows further drops in closed home sales in the next couple of months.
Home prices fell on a year-over-year basis for a second straight month as the worsening real-estate market took some steam out of prices that had been soaring for several years.
The January 2023 statewide median sales price was $379,950, down 2.6 percent from the January 2022 median sales price of $390,000.
The months supply of homes for sale at the end of January stood at 2.9 months, up 11.5 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, NYSAR says.
Housing inventory remained tight in the first month of the new year. The number of homes for sale totaled 30,944 in January, off 7.2 percent from 33,348 homes in January 2022. This is the 39th straight month in which the housing inventory has fallen in year-over-year comparisons, per NYSAR.
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.