New York home sales remain strong in February

Closed and pending sales rose in February, marking the fifth consecutive month of sales growth in year-over-year comparisons, according to the housing report released by the New York State Association of REALTORS.

Closed sales in February climbed 24% from 7,898 units in 2020 to 9,796 homes in 2021. Pending sales maintained a similar upward trend, rising to 10,938 homes in February 2021 from 9,336 units last year – an increase of 17.2%.

Inventory continues to shrink in 2021, falling to 36,717 units statewide last month – a 31.5% decrease of the 53,614 homes available in February of last year. New listings of homes fell once again, as well, dropping from 14,714 units in February 2020 to just 11,155 homes this year – a drop of 24.2%.

Median sales prices escalated to $360,000 last month. This represents a 22% increase from the $295,000 median price in February 2020.

Mortgage interest rates ticked a bit higher in February, but remain below their 2020 levels. According to Freddie Mac, the monthly average on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage in February held at 2.81%. This was a slight increase from 2.74% in January 2021.

Additional data is available at http://www.nysar.com/industry-resources/market-data.

All data is compiled from multiple listing services in the state of New York and the data include townhomes, condominiums and existing single-family homes.

The New York State Association of REALTORS is a not-for-profit trade organization representing more than 60,000 of New York state’s real estate professionals. The term REALTOR is a registered trademark, which identifies real estate professionals who subscribe to a strict code of ethics as members of the National Association of REALTORS. These REALTORS are also members of the New York State Association of REALTORS, as well as their local board or association of REALTORS.