Six Long Island communities where home prices rose more than 15%
From Great Neck to Middle Island, potential buyers watching home prices on Long Island during the first half of the year tended to to see them move in one direction — up.
That was the case through the end of June, when the median price for single-family homes, condos and co-ops in the second quarter increased 11.7% from the previous year to a record $670,000 on the Island, according to real estate brokerage Douglas Elliman and the Manhattan appraisal firm Miller Samuel. The data excludes sales in the Hamptons and the North Fork, which Miller Samuel reports separately.
The rapid run-up in prices continues the trend since the pandemic as too many buyers chase too few houses.
"Inventory is beginning to climb in the second half of 2024 but it's still skewing to historically low levels," said Jonathan Miller, CEO of Miller Samuel, which provided Newsday with data on home prices across nearly 200 communities on Long Island. "As a result, we saw record prices."
That dynamic was certainly at play in six areas that saw some of the fastest price growth on Long Island. In Nassau County, Great Neck, Manhasset and Franklin Square saw prices rise the fastest among areas where there were at least 50 sales from January to June compared with the same stretch a year ago.
The median price in Great Neck rose more than 35% from the previous year.
In Suffolk, East Patchogue, Amityville and Middle Island led all communities with enough sales to qualify.
But it wasn't just those areas. Fast-rising prices prevailed across the Island in the first half of the year.
Among communities where there were at least 50 sales in the January-to-June period, 73 of 76 had a higher median price during the first half of the year compared with the same time frame a year ago. Most of those areas had at least a 10% year-over-year increase in the median price of a home.
Listings started to increase slightly in August compared with last year in Suffolk County but ticked a bit lower in Nassau County compared with a year ago, according to OneKey MLS. Still, the number of homes for sale was less than half what it was in August 2019 before the pandemic started.
Nassau County is bucking the national trend of more houses hitting the market, said Odeta Kushi, deputy chief economist at First American Financial Corp., a provider of title insurance and settlement services, in Washington D.C.
She said that’s due in part to the so-called lock-in effect, in which homeowners stayed put rather than give up the ultra-low mortgage rates available a few years ago.
"If you have a market already with a shortage of inventory, not a ton of building and demand for those properties, that’s a recipe for further price appreciation," she said.
First American recently released a report showing an improving picture for affordability nationwide because of declines in the 30-year fixed mortgage rate. The average rate fell from nearly 7% in July to 6.12% as of the week ending Oct. 3, according to mortgage giant Freddie Mac.
If mortgage rates fall further, it will benefit Long Island homebuyers, knocking hundreds of dollars off their monthly mortgage payments. But it may not be enough to help buyers
"If there’s more buyers that come off the sidelines and not enough sellers and homes to meet that demand, it could actually result in a reacceleration in prices, and, all else equal, hurt affordability," Kushi said.
Miller said the distorted condition of the housing market could remain for years to come — at least until an unforeseen economic downturn saps homebuyer demand.
"That's the challenge facing the region — housing affordability — and I just think it's going to take five, 10 years, if not more, to to get through this distortion."
Below are six of the areas where home prices climbed the fastest in the first half of the year.
Median price first half of 2024: $930,000
Median price first half of 2023: $685,000
Change: 35.8%
Great Neck saw the fastest increase in prices of all areas with at least 50 sales. But much of that steep rise can be attributed to the change in the mix of properties that sold in the area.
Home sales data for Great Neck, as collected by Miller Samuel, include deals in all of the villages and unincorporated areas on the Great Neck peninsula, from the mansions on Long Island Sound in Kings Point to the studios in co-op buildings in Great Neck Plaza near the Long Island Rail Road station.
In the first half of this year, the number of co-ops that sold was basically flat but there was an almost 30% increase in the number of single-family houses that sold in Great Neck, boosting the median price. The opposite scenario occurred last year, when a surge in co-op sales pulled the median price lower.
"One of the challenges in tracking this market is the influence the mix of sales have on the end result," Miller said.
When isolating single-family home sales, the median price in Great Neck rose 10.5% to nearly $1.6 million.
Sellers are still very much in control in the Great Neck market, which comes as a surprise given the rise in mortgage rates over the past three years, said Edna Mashaal, owner of Edna Mashaal Realty in Great Neck Plaza.
"Every time a house comes on the market, you have multiple buyers, multiple offers. It’s insane," she said. " ... I have so many buyers but little inventory. I have so many buyers who are heartbroken because they offer asking price each time and they don’t get the house."
Buyers are drawn to Great Neck for its fast commutes on the LIRR, with morning express trains that can reach Manhattan in under 30 minutes, said Mindy Miles Greenberg, an associate broker at Douglas Elliman in Manhasset, who frequently sells homes in Great Neck.
There are also top-rated schools, a park system that includes several dozen facilities, including the Parkwood Sports Complex, and a four-branch library system.
Greenberg says the different types of housing in the area allows people to stay in Great Neck as their circumstances change — from studio co-ops to luxury condos to multimillion dollar mansions.
"There’s something for everybody here," she said.
Median price first half of 2024: $2 million
Median price first half of 2023: $1,518,000
Change: 31.8%
Manhasset was already one of Long Island’s most expensive communities to buy a house, but appreciation in the past year drove the median price to the $2 million mark.
The area's median price was both the most expensive among places with at least 50 sales and one of the fastest-growing. The data includes sales within the greater Manhasset area, including the incorporated villages of Flower Hill, Munsey Park and Plandome, as well as several unincorporated areas, such as Strathmore.
Like the rest of Long Island, a shortage of available properties has driven up prices, said Nicholas Colombos, a real estate agent at Compass.
Manhasset is mostly single-family homes, including some gated communities, and homes on more than an acre, command a premium, he said. About one-fifth of the sales in the six-month period were condos, according to data from OneKey MLS.
For some buyers, the right piece of property is all that’s needed to make a sale, Colombos said.
"We have a lot of people, not builders, that are purchasing a home, maybe from the 1960s, knocking it down completely and building a brand-new four-to-five bedroom home," he said.
Median price first half of 2024: $535,000
Median price first half of 2023: $435,000
Change: 23%
Located between the villages of Patchogue and Bellport, East Patchogue is drawing attention in its own right, with the median price in the community rising a full $100,000 through the first half of the year.
East Patchogue offers quick access to South Shore beaches as well as nearby ferry service to Fire Island, said Lina Lopes, a real estate agent and team leader at Douglas Elliman, who has lived in the community for over 20 years.
Before COVID, buyers could find a three-bedroom, two-bathroom ranch for around $300,000 but those days are gone, she said.
"The prices have gone way up. We were a little sleeper town for a while," she said. "If I said I lived in East Patchogue, a lot of people didn’t know it. But with everything that’s going on with Patchogue and in Bellport revitalizing it’s also given us a boost."
East Patchogue’s business district is slated to get its own $47 million revitalization plan in the coming years, which will include new housing, offices, retail shops and a cultural arts center.
Lopes says she advises buyers to shop below their desired price point because houses frequently sell for above their asking prices. If a buyer has a maximum budget of $530,000, they may only want to look at houses listed at $500,000 and plan to offer above asking price.
"It’s a strange mentality we all have now," she said.
Price points in the area tend to rise as you approach the bay south of South Country Road, where homes can sell for more than $1 million.
Michael and Joanna Conboy, both 36, recently sold their East Patchogue home of 11 years and bought a larger home in Oakdale that will shorten their westbound commutes and move them closer to Joanna’s family in Nassau County. It also will provide more space for the couple, their 4-year-old son and Michael’s mother, who plans to move in with the family.
"We really love this area. We love the people here," Michael Conboy said of East Patchogue. "We just needed a bigger house."
They bought the five-bedroom East Patchogue house in 2013 for $580,000 and are in contract to sell the home after listing it for more than $1.2 million. They had spent hundreds of thousands remodeling the house while they lived there. Initially, the couple looked in East Patchogue but found few options and were drawn to Oakdale’s schools and their future neighborhood.
"It was difficult to put it up for sale initially because there wasn’t much on the market," Joanna Conboy said. "When we found the perfect house, we jumped on it right way."
Median price first half of 2024: $565,000
Median price first half of 2023: $460,000
Change: 22.8%
Prices have risen rapidly in Amityville, where residents benefit from the village having its own police force, fire department and parks.
Sales data combines sales in the village with those in unincorporated North Amityville. Earlier this week, there were 33 homes on the market, ranging from a $260,000 co-op on Broadway in North Amityville to a nearly $1.3 million, 3,000-square-foot home on a wide canal south of Merrick Road.
That wide range can lead to swings in the median price, when more expensive houses make up a greater share of sales in the area.
"Prices have doubled in the nine years I’ve been doing real estate," said Edgar Iglesias, a real estate agent at Serhant who co-listed the Conboys’ home in East Patchogue and recently listed a home for just under $690,000 in Amityville.
Iglesias said the recent drop in mortgage rates had motivated buyers and boosted activity at open houses this fall.
"The price of monthly payments is going down because the rate isn’t as high as it was last year," he said. "That’s motivating buyers to get back in the marketplace but also helping sellers decide maybe I should start selling ... because they feel like it’s affordable for them to go and buy something else."
For Janet Jaquez, 39, a respiratory therapist from North Massapequa, and her sister Yannirys Jaquez, 42, a medical assistant who lives in Freeport, their search is just beginning. The sisters visited an open house earlier this month in Amityville with the hope they could buy the home together, along with Yannirys's husband, Alan Vargas, and live there with their children.
"Prices are exorbitant," Janet Jaquez said. "You get very little house for your money and houses go fast so we feel this pressure to make an offer quickly."
She added later: "They basically tell you don't fall in love with the house because, just like anywhere else in the country, you could get outbid."
Median price first half of 2024: $452,500
Median price first half of 2023: $375,000
Change: 20.7%
Middle Island is the most affordable area on the list, offering a mix of condos and single-family houses.
That affordability, combined with the lifestyle offered by the area's HOA communities, attracts people to Middle Island, said Tom Annunziato, a real estate agent at Howard Hanna Coach Realtors in Mount Sinai. There’s also access to hiking trails at Cathedral Pines and Prosser Pines County Parks.
Of the 48 listings available in early October, more than half were condos. Among the single-family houses available, several were newly built.
Annunziato says he’s hopeful that mortgage rates could fall toward 5% in the coming months, which he thinks could spur more homeowners to test the market.
"That might get the family that has the three-bedroom ranch to put it on the market to upsize to the Colonial to fit their needs," he said.
Without those listings, homebuyers in Middle Island aren’t likely to get much relief when negotiating prices.
"As long as the inventory is still tight, we’re going to be in that same environment, and it’s going to be favorable for sellers," he said.
Median price first half of 2024: $767,250
Median price first half of 2023: $653,000
Change: 17.5%
The median price in Franklin Square increased at the third-fastest clip among Nassau communities that had at least 50 sales.
The area’s mix of Capes and Colonials are a draw for buyers who may have been priced out of Queens as well as those who were born and raised in the area, said Emilia Pizzo, a real estate agent at Howard Hanna Coach who grew up in Franklin Square and now lives in East Northport.
Pizzo said in 2018 she worked on a million-dollar listing that ran into trouble because it was hard for appraisers to find any comparable sales at that price point. This year, there have already been nine sales above $1 million through the end of September, according to OneKey MLS data.
She had started to notice a bit of a slowdown in demand toward the end of August but said buyers have returned this fall and she recently received multiple offers on a three-bedroom Cape priced at $699,000.
The Fed’s announcement in September that it expects interest rates to move lower over the next year has contributed to more enthusiasm this fall, she said.
"I think buyers are back. Obviously, interest rates are definitely a perk," Pizzo said. "We’re back to a healthy seller’s market again ... It was just a little slow start to the fall season."
From Great Neck to Middle Island, potential buyers watching home prices on Long Island during the first half of the year tended to to see them move in one direction — up.
That was the case through the end of June, when the median price for single-family homes, condos and co-ops in the second quarter increased 11.7% from the previous year to a record $670,000 on the Island, according to real estate brokerage Douglas Elliman and the Manhattan appraisal firm Miller Samuel. The data excludes sales in the Hamptons and the North Fork, which Miller Samuel reports separately.
The rapid run-up in prices continues the trend since the pandemic as too many buyers chase too few houses.
"Inventory is beginning to climb in the second half of 2024 but it's still skewing to historically low levels," said Jonathan Miller, CEO of Miller Samuel, which provided Newsday with data on home prices across nearly 200 communities on Long Island. "As a result, we saw record prices."
That dynamic was certainly at play in six areas that saw some of the fastest price growth on Long Island. In Nassau County, Great Neck, Manhasset and Franklin Square saw prices rise the fastest among areas where there were at least 50 sales from January to June compared with the same stretch a year ago.
The median price in Great Neck rose more than 35% from the previous year.
In Suffolk, East Patchogue, Amityville and Middle Island led all communities with enough sales to qualify.
But it wasn't just those areas. Fast-rising prices prevailed across the Island in the first half of the year.
Among communities where there were at least 50 sales in the January-to-June period, 73 of 76 had a higher median price during the first half of the year compared with the same time frame a year ago. Most of those areas had at least a 10% year-over-year increase in the median price of a home.
Listings started to increase slightly in August compared with last year in Suffolk County but ticked a bit lower in Nassau County compared with a year ago, according to OneKey MLS. Still, the number of homes for sale was less than half what it was in August 2019 before the pandemic started.
Nassau County is bucking the national trend of more houses hitting the market, said Odeta Kushi, deputy chief economist at First American Financial Corp., a provider of title insurance and settlement services, in Washington D.C.
She said that’s due in part to the so-called lock-in effect, in which homeowners stayed put rather than give up the ultra-low mortgage rates available a few years ago.
"If you have a market already with a shortage of inventory, not a ton of building and demand for those properties, that’s a recipe for further price appreciation," she said.
First American recently released a report showing an improving picture for affordability nationwide because of declines in the 30-year fixed mortgage rate. The average rate fell from nearly 7% in July to 6.12% as of the week ending Oct. 3, according to mortgage giant Freddie Mac.
If mortgage rates fall further, it will benefit Long Island homebuyers, knocking hundreds of dollars off their monthly mortgage payments. But it may not be enough to help buyers
"If there’s more buyers that come off the sidelines and not enough sellers and homes to meet that demand, it could actually result in a reacceleration in prices, and, all else equal, hurt affordability," Kushi said.
Miller said the distorted condition of the housing market could remain for years to come — at least until an unforeseen economic downturn saps homebuyer demand.
"That's the challenge facing the region — housing affordability — and I just think it's going to take five, 10 years, if not more, to to get through this distortion."
Below are six of the areas where home prices climbed the fastest in the first half of the year.
This two-bedroom co-op unit in Great Neck Plaza went into contract earlier this month. It was last listed at $550,000. Credit: Courtesy of Mindy Miles Greenberg
Great Neck
Median price first half of 2024: $930,000
Median price first half of 2023: $685,000
Change: 35.8%
Great Neck saw the fastest increase in prices of all areas with at least 50 sales. But much of that steep rise can be attributed to the change in the mix of properties that sold in the area.
Home sales data for Great Neck, as collected by Miller Samuel, include deals in all of the villages and unincorporated areas on the Great Neck peninsula, from the mansions on Long Island Sound in Kings Point to the studios in co-op buildings in Great Neck Plaza near the Long Island Rail Road station.
In the first half of this year, the number of co-ops that sold was basically flat but there was an almost 30% increase in the number of single-family houses that sold in Great Neck, boosting the median price. The opposite scenario occurred last year, when a surge in co-op sales pulled the median price lower.
"One of the challenges in tracking this market is the influence the mix of sales have on the end result," Miller said.
When isolating single-family home sales, the median price in Great Neck rose 10.5% to nearly $1.6 million.
Sellers are still very much in control in the Great Neck market, which comes as a surprise given the rise in mortgage rates over the past three years, said Edna Mashaal, owner of Edna Mashaal Realty in Great Neck Plaza.
"Every time a house comes on the market, you have multiple buyers, multiple offers. It’s insane," she said. " ... I have so many buyers but little inventory. I have so many buyers who are heartbroken because they offer asking price each time and they don’t get the house."
Buyers are drawn to Great Neck for its fast commutes on the LIRR, with morning express trains that can reach Manhattan in under 30 minutes, said Mindy Miles Greenberg, an associate broker at Douglas Elliman in Manhasset, who frequently sells homes in Great Neck.
There are also top-rated schools, a park system that includes several dozen facilities, including the Parkwood Sports Complex, and a four-branch library system.
Greenberg says the different types of housing in the area allows people to stay in Great Neck as their circumstances change — from studio co-ops to luxury condos to multimillion dollar mansions.
"There’s something for everybody here," she said.
Manhasset
Median price first half of 2024: $2 million
Median price first half of 2023: $1,518,000
Change: 31.8%
Manhasset was already one of Long Island’s most expensive communities to buy a house, but appreciation in the past year drove the median price to the $2 million mark.
The area's median price was both the most expensive among places with at least 50 sales and one of the fastest-growing. The data includes sales within the greater Manhasset area, including the incorporated villages of Flower Hill, Munsey Park and Plandome, as well as several unincorporated areas, such as Strathmore.
Like the rest of Long Island, a shortage of available properties has driven up prices, said Nicholas Colombos, a real estate agent at Compass.
Manhasset is mostly single-family homes, including some gated communities, and homes on more than an acre, command a premium, he said. About one-fifth of the sales in the six-month period were condos, according to data from OneKey MLS.
For some buyers, the right piece of property is all that’s needed to make a sale, Colombos said.
"We have a lot of people, not builders, that are purchasing a home, maybe from the 1960s, knocking it down completely and building a brand-new four-to-five bedroom home," he said.
This three-bedroom Victorian-style Colonial in East Patchogue went into contract earlier this month. Credit: VHT Studios
East Patchogue
Median price first half of 2024: $535,000
Median price first half of 2023: $435,000
Change: 23%
Located between the villages of Patchogue and Bellport, East Patchogue is drawing attention in its own right, with the median price in the community rising a full $100,000 through the first half of the year.
East Patchogue offers quick access to South Shore beaches as well as nearby ferry service to Fire Island, said Lina Lopes, a real estate agent and team leader at Douglas Elliman, who has lived in the community for over 20 years.
Before COVID, buyers could find a three-bedroom, two-bathroom ranch for around $300,000 but those days are gone, she said.
"The prices have gone way up. We were a little sleeper town for a while," she said. "If I said I lived in East Patchogue, a lot of people didn’t know it. But with everything that’s going on with Patchogue and in Bellport revitalizing it’s also given us a boost."
East Patchogue’s business district is slated to get its own $47 million revitalization plan in the coming years, which will include new housing, offices, retail shops and a cultural arts center.
Lopes says she advises buyers to shop below their desired price point because houses frequently sell for above their asking prices. If a buyer has a maximum budget of $530,000, they may only want to look at houses listed at $500,000 and plan to offer above asking price.
"It’s a strange mentality we all have now," she said.
Price points in the area tend to rise as you approach the bay south of South Country Road, where homes can sell for more than $1 million.
Michael and Joanna Conboy, both 36, recently sold their East Patchogue home of 11 years and bought a larger home in Oakdale that will shorten their westbound commutes and move them closer to Joanna’s family in Nassau County. It also will provide more space for the couple, their 4-year-old son and Michael’s mother, who plans to move in with the family.
"We really love this area. We love the people here," Michael Conboy said of East Patchogue. "We just needed a bigger house."
They bought the five-bedroom East Patchogue house in 2013 for $580,000 and are in contract to sell the home after listing it for more than $1.2 million. They had spent hundreds of thousands remodeling the house while they lived there. Initially, the couple looked in East Patchogue but found few options and were drawn to Oakdale’s schools and their future neighborhood.
"It was difficult to put it up for sale initially because there wasn’t much on the market," Joanna Conboy said. "When we found the perfect house, we jumped on it right way."
Real estate agent's Edgar Iglesias, right, and Stevie Marie Otto at an open house on Bayview Avenue in Amityville on Sept. 28. Credit: Tom Lambui
Amityville
Median price first half of 2024: $565,000
Median price first half of 2023: $460,000
Change: 22.8%
Prices have risen rapidly in Amityville, where residents benefit from the village having its own police force, fire department and parks.
Sales data combines sales in the village with those in unincorporated North Amityville. Earlier this week, there were 33 homes on the market, ranging from a $260,000 co-op on Broadway in North Amityville to a nearly $1.3 million, 3,000-square-foot home on a wide canal south of Merrick Road.
That wide range can lead to swings in the median price, when more expensive houses make up a greater share of sales in the area.
"Prices have doubled in the nine years I’ve been doing real estate," said Edgar Iglesias, a real estate agent at Serhant who co-listed the Conboys’ home in East Patchogue and recently listed a home for just under $690,000 in Amityville.
Iglesias said the recent drop in mortgage rates had motivated buyers and boosted activity at open houses this fall.
"The price of monthly payments is going down because the rate isn’t as high as it was last year," he said. "That’s motivating buyers to get back in the marketplace but also helping sellers decide maybe I should start selling ... because they feel like it’s affordable for them to go and buy something else."
For Janet Jaquez, 39, a respiratory therapist from North Massapequa, and her sister Yannirys Jaquez, 42, a medical assistant who lives in Freeport, their search is just beginning. The sisters visited an open house earlier this month in Amityville with the hope they could buy the home together, along with Yannirys's husband, Alan Vargas, and live there with their children.
"Prices are exorbitant," Janet Jaquez said. "You get very little house for your money and houses go fast so we feel this pressure to make an offer quickly."
She added later: "They basically tell you don't fall in love with the house because, just like anywhere else in the country, you could get outbid."
This two-bedroom condo in a gated community in Middle Island is listed for $479,900. Credit: Andy Limjoco
Middle Island
Median price first half of 2024: $452,500
Median price first half of 2023: $375,000
Change: 20.7%
Middle Island is the most affordable area on the list, offering a mix of condos and single-family houses.
That affordability, combined with the lifestyle offered by the area's HOA communities, attracts people to Middle Island, said Tom Annunziato, a real estate agent at Howard Hanna Coach Realtors in Mount Sinai. There’s also access to hiking trails at Cathedral Pines and Prosser Pines County Parks.
Of the 48 listings available in early October, more than half were condos. Among the single-family houses available, several were newly built.
Annunziato says he’s hopeful that mortgage rates could fall toward 5% in the coming months, which he thinks could spur more homeowners to test the market.
"That might get the family that has the three-bedroom ranch to put it on the market to upsize to the Colonial to fit their needs," he said.
Without those listings, homebuyers in Middle Island aren’t likely to get much relief when negotiating prices.
"As long as the inventory is still tight, we’re going to be in that same environment, and it’s going to be favorable for sellers," he said.
This three-bedroom Cape in Franklin Square is on the market for $699,000. Credit: VHT Studios/Tsukasa Yokozawa
Franklin Square
Median price first half of 2024: $767,250
Median price first half of 2023: $653,000
Change: 17.5%
The median price in Franklin Square increased at the third-fastest clip among Nassau communities that had at least 50 sales.
The area’s mix of Capes and Colonials are a draw for buyers who may have been priced out of Queens as well as those who were born and raised in the area, said Emilia Pizzo, a real estate agent at Howard Hanna Coach who grew up in Franklin Square and now lives in East Northport.
Pizzo said in 2018 she worked on a million-dollar listing that ran into trouble because it was hard for appraisers to find any comparable sales at that price point. This year, there have already been nine sales above $1 million through the end of September, according to OneKey MLS data.
She had started to notice a bit of a slowdown in demand toward the end of August but said buyers have returned this fall and she recently received multiple offers on a three-bedroom Cape priced at $699,000.
The Fed’s announcement in September that it expects interest rates to move lower over the next year has contributed to more enthusiasm this fall, she said.
"I think buyers are back. Obviously, interest rates are definitely a perk," Pizzo said. "We’re back to a healthy seller’s market again ... It was just a little slow start to the fall season."
Jonathan LaMantia covers residential real estate and other business news on Long Island. He previously covered the business of health care for Crain's New York Business.
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