Real Estate

NYS Had Record Low Number of Homes for Sale in 2023

ALBANY – The inventory of available homes for sale at the end of 2023 across New York fell to the lowest recorded mark in history, according to a report released by the New York State Association of Realtors.

Inventory of homes for sale across New York dropped to an all-time recorded low of 24,469 units in December 2023. This represents a 17.8 percent decline in the 29,768 homes available in December 2022.

Prices continued to rise to close out 2023, with the median sales price of homes escalating 10.1 percent to $380,000 last month, up from $345,000 in December 2022. This marks the fifth consecutive month of rising median sales prices.

Interest rates have started to come down in month-over-month comparisons. According to Freddie Mac, the average on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped from 7.44 percent in November 2023 to 6.82 percent in December. For comparison, a year ago at this time, the interest rate stood at 6.36 percent.

New listings and pending sales both rose slightly in December. New listings of homes were up 0.4 percent in year-over-year comparisons from 5,769 units in December 2022 to 5,791 homes last month. Pending sales inched up 0.7 percent from 6,483 units in 2022 to 6,528 homes in December 2023. Closed sales, however, did fall, dropping 12.6 percent from 9,855 sales in December 2022 to only 8,611 homes to close out 2023.