ALBANY — The median price of homes has continued to climb for 17 consecutive months in year-over-year comparisons, while sales declined in September for the first time since August of 2020, according to the housing report released today by the New York State Association of Realtors.
Median sales prices escalated to $378,000 in September. This represents an 18.5 percent increase from the $319,000 price in September 2020. The New York market has seen 17 consecutive months of median sales increases in year-over-year comparisons.
Closed sales are down for the first time in 13 months, falling 4.6 percent from 13,907 sales last September to 13,274 units last month. Pending sales dropped from 15,607 homes to just 13,588 units – a drop of 12.9 percent. New listings of homes also fell, decreasing from 21,155 sales in September 2020 to 16,563 last month. This marks a 21.7 decrease in month-over-month comparisons.
Inventory of homes for sale has fallen for 23 consecutive months in year-over-year comparisons. In September 2020, there were 54,863 homes for sale compared to just 42,849 in September 2021 – a 21.9 percent decrease.
Mortgage interest rates rose slightly in September. According to Freddie Mac, the monthly average on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage in September inched up to 2.90 percent.
The decline in local sales is mirroring a national trend where the National Association of Realtors has observed pending home sales had dipped in September, retreating slightly following a previous month of growth.
Each of the four major U.S. regions saw contract activity decline month-over-month and year-over-year, the association said, with the Northeast weathering the largest yearly drop.
The association’s Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator of home sales based on contract signings, decreased 2.3 percent to 116.7 in September. Year-over-year, signings decreased 8.0 percent.
An index of 100 is equal to the level of contract activity in 2001.
“Contract transactions slowed a bit in September and are showing signs of a calmer home price trend, as the market is running comfortably ahead of pre-pandemic activity,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist.
