While the number of listings taken in Nassau County jumped 37% in 2017 over the number of listing taken in 2016, the number of contracts went up a meager 1.5%. The number of listings still on the market on Jan 1 2018 is at least a 10 year low of 3733. Where did all the listings go? Expired listings jumped from 233 in 2016 to 1195 in 2017, while listings withdrawn from the market exploded from 820 to 3081. We ended 2017 with an absorption rate of 4.4 months of inventory very similar to the 4.5 months a year ago. Its obvious that there were a lot of disappointed sellers in this sellers’ market and I suspect price is the culprit. While prices of closed properties in Nassau county went up 3.5%, the average sales price of pending sales rose only 2.6%. A good number of sellers are looking for a price that buyers are not willing to pay.
In our local market in Syosset the picture is much the same except for the price. While the number of listings this past year climbed 14%, the number of pendings dropped 10%. The price increase on pendings was a healthy 7% indicating the higher end of the market can stand higher prices better than the lower end.
What’s in store for 2018? Nobody know for sure and the new tax law complicates the picture, but I suspect more of the same at least for the next six months.
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