December Home Prices Hold Steady

According to the Multiple Listing Service of Long Island, Inc. (MLSLI), the December 2010 closed median home price on Long Island, which includes Nassau, Suffolk, and Queens sales, was $360,000, compared to $355,000 last year. Suffolk and Queens reported an increase in closed median home prices while Nassau County reported a $397,000 closed median home price, which was slightly lower than $400,000 reported in December 2009. Suffolk County reported a closed median of $327,000 for December, which was 0.6 percent higher than $325,000 reported a year ago. In Queens, the closed median home price was $358,610, representing a 5.5 percent increase over $339,888 reported last December.

Dorothy Aschkar, 2011 MLSLI President reported that "Long Island ended 2010 with a $362,000 closed median home price for the year, which was almost the same as $363,000 reported in 2009. We also had more closed sales transactions in 2010 compared to 2009, which was driven by the tax credit incentive but is still a positive sign of a market recovery." Aschkar said," I believe the market has reached the point of sustainable levels." Aschkar notes, "Affordable mortgage interest rates and stable home prices, which combined with continued job growth and rising rents, will encourage more renters to consider homeownership."

The bright spot in the real estate market is that housing affordability conditions have been extremely favorable on Long Island. MLSLI reports the Housing Affordability Index (HAI) on a monthly basis for Nassau, Suffolk, and Queens and the index has been consistently above the 100 mark for well over a year. The HAI is a broad measure of housing affordability using consistent values and assumptions over time that examines the relationship between home prices, mortgage interest rates and family income.