By Hank Russell
The most obvious news is the rise in home sales prices on Long Island, but what people may not know is that the number of homes available for sale and new listings are trending downward in the region, while statewide figures are going up.
According to the New York State Association of REALTORSⓇ (NYSAR), there were 2,677 homes available for sale in Nassau during the month of May, down 4.9% from May 2025, when it was 2,816 houses on the market. Inventory also dropped from 3.5 to 3.2 months — a yearly decrease of 8.6%.
Suffolk had 3,454 homes for sale last month, which is down 7.3% from May of last year, according to NYSAR; in May 2025, there were 3,724 houses on the market. In addition, inventory saw an 8.8% drop from 3.4 to 3.1 months.
However, New York State saw a 3.2% increase in homes for sale from 29,540 the previous May to 30,489 last month. Inventory, meanwhile, remained unchanged at 3.4 months — higher than Nassau or Suffolk’s, the NYSAR said.
New listings in Nassau slid 8.6% from 1,494 in May of last year to 1,365 last month, based on NYSAR data. In Suffolk, there were 1,749 newly listed homes in May 2026, which is 4.9% less than the previous May, when there were 1,840 new listings. The state saw an increase, albeit slightly, year over year from 15,794 to 15,806, up only 0.1%.
As in months past, home sales took a dive while home sales prices continued to climb. In Nassau, home sales dropped 6.0% to 700 from 745 the previous May. Meanwhile, the median sales price was at $850,000 — up 9.0% from May 2025’s figure of $780,000. In Suffolk, there were 933 closings last month compared to 1,029 in May of last year — a decrease of 9.3%. However, there was a 3.0% year-over-year increase in median sales price from $660,000 to $680,000.
New York State saw a more precipitous drop in sales — 11.6% — as the number fell from 8,099 to 7,156. The median sales price was still lower than Nassau or Suffolk’s at $444,510. But that is up 3.4% from May 2025, when the price was $430,000.