LI home prices edged up in July

Home prices on Long Island edged upward last month from a year earlier, while the number of properties sold declined in the same period.

Homes in Nassau fetched a median price of $439,000 in July, a gain of slightly less than 1 percent from $435,000 a year earlier, according to a report Thursday by the Multiple Listing Service of Long Island.

Suffolk's median home price rose slightly to $335,000 last month, a year-over-year rise of less than 1 percent from $332,000, according to the report.

"We are back to a normal market as far as prices," said Gary Baumann, a licensed associate real estate broker at Douglas Elliman Real Estate.

The number of residential houses, condos and co-ops sold in Nassau last month was 1,099, a 9.8 percent decrease from 1,219 in July 2013. Home sales for June were 996.

Nassau's inventory of homes was 7,589, with a median listing price of $498,000, compared with 7,286 and a $435,000 median price in July 2013. Median prices in June were $430,000, with 7,587 properties on the market.

In Suffolk County, there were 1,203 property sales last month, a 6.7 percent decrease from 1,289 in July 2013. Sales for this past June were 1,113.

Suffolk's available inventory was 11,030 homes, with a median listing price of $389,000, compared with 10,289 and a $332,000 median list price in July 2013. Median prices for this past June were $330,000, with an inventory of 10,917 properties.

The lower volume of July sales compared with a year earlier "is disappointing," MLSLI past president Kevin Leatherman, a real estate agent in Rockville Centre, said. "We had a very long, drawn-out winter. That may have had an effect on seasonal adjustments."

Other real estate agents said the July home sales market did not deliver the bounce that they had predicted following a brutal winter, which they expected would increase demand in the spring and summer.

"July was a little slower than we had hoped," said Baumann, adding that potential buyers wanted to enjoy the warm weather after a tough winter instead of scouting for homes. "There was buyer fatigue from the bidding wars for many of those houses. They felt that prices were going up and they were fighting over good homes."