NYSAR: Increased listings a welcome sign for NYS housing market

For the first time in eight months, there was an increase in number of homes newly listed for sale, according to the housing report released Friday by the New York State Association of REALTORS. NYSAR noted, “Despite the bump in new listings, overall housing inventory remains critically low.”

New home listings increased from 11,226 units in February 2021 to 11,658 homes last month. This 3.8% increase marks the first time since May 2021 that new listings were up in year-over-year comparisons. Pending sales increased 4.2% in February – from 9,938 homes in 2021 to 10,358 units in 2022. Closed sales, however, declined from 10,148 sales in 2021 to 9,009 homes last month. This represents an 11.2% decrease.

Inventory across New York state fell to another record low of just 29,435 homes in February 2022, down 26.2% from the 39,864 homes available in February 2021. Months’ supply of inventory dipped 30.3% from 3.3 months of inventory in February 2021 to just 2.3 months’ supply last month. A 6-month to 6.5-month supply is considered to be a balanced market.

Median sales prices once again rose, escalating 12.7% from $355,000 in February 2021 to $400,000 in February 2022. This marks 22 consecutive months the median sales price has escalated in year-over-year comparisons.

Mortgage interest rates jumped over three tenths of a point in February. According to Freddie Mac, the monthly average on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose from 3.45% in January 2022 to 3.76% in February 2022. This is the highest rate since July 2019.

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.