Unsold homes ‘piling up’ in long island

Home sales in New York's Long Island have plummeted…

More than $14.6 billion worth of homes were sold last year, compared with $16.5 billion in 2006, a drop of almost 12 percent, according to figures released yesterday by the Multiple Listing Service of Long Island.

Last year, about 23.2 percent of all the listings on Long Island and in Queens had closings -- 28,389 out of all 122,359 listings. In 2006, 25.3 percent of all the listings had closings -- or 31,965 closings out of 126,060 listings. That 2 percent difference might not seem like much, but when comparing just the actual number of closings, there was an 11 percent drop -- or 3,576 fewer closings -- in the number of sales.

For the Long Island and Queens region, the average closing price dropped from $516,194 in 2006 to $515,539 last year. The median closing price for December was $425,000, down from $437,500 a year ago.

"December inventory levels, while 12 percent higher than last December, are still lower than November 2007," said Joseph E. Mottola, chief executive of the Long Island Board of Realtors.

Boom-time prices at an end

Annual and monthly figures reflect mixed expectations from sellers and buyers. Even as inventory rose last year, there was a drop in the annual number of listings, which covers all the homes that were on the market at one time or another during the year.

On one hand, agents and brokers say many sellers have realized they can't demand the boom-time prices anymore; the median price of homes on the market dropped from $500,000 a year ago to $480,000 last month, a 4 percent difference. Homes are piling up on the market, taking longer to sell because buyers think prices will probably go down further this year, as experts have predicted. December had 30,854 homes for sale, up from 27,446 a year ago.

"Those who are serious about selling, sell," said Mohsen Zandieh, president of the Long Island Board of Realtors and broker owner of Arash Real Estate and Management in Little Neck. "Those who are determined to get a certain amount in their pockets, they wait for the market to Change to the number they want to see."