Long Island home prices hit new highs in June: $850G in Nassau, $700G in Suffolk

Long Island home prices reached new heights in June, signaling  buyers have been unfazed by ever-climbing housing costs as well as recession fears that emerged this spring. 

The median price of a single-family house in Nassau County rose to an all-time high of $850,000, increasing 6.3% from $800,000 in June 2024, according to a new report from OneKey MLS. That mark jumped from $810,000 in May.

In Suffolk, the median sale price hit $700,000 for the first time, rising 5.3% compared with the same figure a year ago. The median was $665,000 in Suffolk in June 2024.

"Housing affordability is historically low, and it doesn't seem to be dampening buyer activity at all," said Richard Haggerty, CEO of OneKey MLS, the multiple listing service that covers Long Island.

The market hasn't hit its ceiling yet because interested buyers continue to outnumber for-sale listings, he said. The number of homes for sale at the end of June on Long Island fell by 5% compared with last year, when it was already far below its pre-pandemic level, according to OneKey data.

As prices rose, fewer deals closed in June than a year ago. There were 1,604 closings in the two counties last month, which was down 6.3% from a year earlier.

The closed sale prices for June reflect deals that went into contract earlier in the spring, when stock market volatility and fears of recession created uncertainty for homebuyers.

Long Islanders, particularly those that want to sell and stay local, are staying in place because they don't like the available options, Haggerty said.

"We need more housing opportunities for sellers to be able to downsize into condos and town houses," he said.

Long Island isn't alone in that respect. The United States has a shortage of 4.7 million housing units, according to a Zillow analysis of census data released last week. The report compared the number of available housing units in a metro area with the number of families sharing homes with non-relatives. The deficit was about 402,000 in the metropolitan area, the highest among 50 metro areas.

Nationally, the real estate market has been shifting toward buyers, as the number of listings has grown and demand has waned, said Kara Ng, senior economist at Zillow. But in Northeast markets, including Long Island, buyers are unlikely to feel any relief.

"In the New York metro, because it's a strong seller's market, it means you're competing with maybe five other people rather than 10, but you're still competing," Ng said. "But overall, the trend in the country is that competition is softening."

Buyers also face mortgage rates that have barely budged in 2025, keeping the interest costs to finance a purchase high. The average 30-year fixed rate was 6.72% last week, according to mortgage giant Freddie Mac. That compares with 6.89% at the same time a year ago.

Locally, attractive listings are only for sale for a week or two before they find a buyer, said Amy Girimonti, a real estate broker and owner of Prime Properties Long Island in Huntington.

She recalled about three years ago, it wouldn't have been too challenging to find a buyer a typical home in Huntington for about $600,000, but that has jumped to $700,000. Buyers who have been shopping for a year or more have also become accustomed to offering above asking price, she said.

"As a buyer, you figure out you probably need to go above the list price in most cases, especially if you're under a time crunch to find a home or you've been shopping so long you're exhausted by the process," she said.

Francheska Gomez, a broker and owner of Aventus Real Estate in Merrick, said she has noticed buyers gaining more negotiating power. She recently represented a seller in Elmont who was willing to offer a $10,000 concession that the buyer could use to cover closing costs. Sellers have also been more willing to accept offers with down payments of less than 20% of the purchase price, she said.

But that all depends on buyers finding a house to purchase. Gomez recalled being able to show clients 10 houses in a day before the pandemic, but now she says it's hard to line up more than three options to tour in one day.

"Comparing it to three or four years ago, it's not even close," she said. "It's become the new norm to not have as many listings out there."