ALBANY – Inventory of homes for sale remained low throughout the year and prices continued to rise in the Empire State in 2021, according to a housing report released today by the New York State Association of Realtors.
Median sales prices comparing December 2020 to December 2021 rose 8.3-percent – from $348,000 in 2020 to $377,000 in 2021. In year-to-date annual comparisons, the 2021 median sales price was $370,000 which marks a 19.4-percent increase over 2020’s $310,000 price.
Inventory plummeted 30.4-percent to close out 2021. Homes for sale fell to only 30,654 units in December 2021 compared to 44,071 homes available in December 2020. Months supply of inventory sank to just 2.3 months supply last month, marking a 30.4 percent drop from the 3.7 months of supply available in December 2020.
Closed sales fell last month, from 15,974 units in December 2020 to 13,649 homes in December 2021. This represents a 14.8-percent drop. For the year, however, closed sales were up 17.2 percent – from 130,635 sales in 2020 to 153,110 in 2021. Pending sales climbed to 10,494 homes in December 2021 from 10,087 in December 2020. This marks a 4-percent increase in year-over-year comparisons.
New listings were down 12.3 percent – from 9,005 homes in December 2020 to 7,896 units last month. For the year, new listings were marginally lower, down 0.2-percent.
Mortgage interest rates, which began the year at historic lows, continued to be competitive in December. According to Freddie Mac, the monthly average on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose slightly from 3.07 percent in November, to 3.10 in December.
