HAMPTONS! NORTH FORK! LONG ISLAND! The Long Island housing - TopicsExpress

HAMPTONS! NORTH FORK! LONG ISLAND! The Long Island housing market was unusually active over the summer and into the fall. The market had more sales in the third quarter than in any quarter of the last seven years. Listing inventory fell to the third lowest level weve seen in a more than a decade. The increase in sales and lack of inventory pushed prices to their highest level in five years. Rising mortgage rates are expected to help sustain the rebound by keeping price gains in check going into next year. In the Hamptons, there was an increase in home sales from what we saw last year at this time. The rise in mortgage rates last spring prompted many who were on the fence to make a purchase and more of those buyers than usual were first time buyers. Inventory remains low but has been rising this year, giving buyers more choices in a fast moving market. We look forward to continued improvement in the market over the coming quarters. The North Fork housing market, like the Hamptons, had more lower priced sales in the mix which was prompted by the rise in mortgage rates. Sales fell just short of prior year levels, but inventory fell faster keeping the market tight. Although the rise in lower priced sales caused overall prices to fall short of prior year levels, housing prices remained stable. We expect to see these conditions continue into next year.