Queens Real Estate Market Report June 2019, courtesy of the Queens Home Team at Keller Williams Realty Landmark II. Looking for a real estate agent in Queens NY? Let the Queens Home Team help you accomplish your goals.
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Market Snapshot
Summer is officially here, but unfortunately mother nature didn’t get the memo 🙂 So far we’ve seen fairly mild temperatures and most people are just craving a nice beach day in the 80’s. As for the real estate market, it has continued it’s trend of stable interest rates, declining sales, and growing inventory. We are continuing to be reminded of the shifting market every time we put a house on the market.
Regarding home sales, they have continued to decline every month this year and based on what we’re seeing, this speaks to more buyer hesitation than buyer demand. Reason why is because we are still getting high turnouts and a lot of activity on our listings, however, most people are not making offers. It seems that a lot of buyers are looking at homes, but they are not pulling the trigger to make an offer unless it is a really good deal.
As for home prices, May saw the first year over year price decrease since May of 2012. Yes it’s been that long since we had a median home price below the same month if the previous year. In June of 2012 we saw a 3% increase over June of 2011 and ever since then, every single month has seen a higher median home price than the same month if the previous year. That’s 7 years, or 84 months of consecutive year over year price increases. The fact that this May’s median home price was below that of May in 2018, may be indicative of the new market that we are moving into.
When it comes to interest rates, they are still historically low so it is still a great time to buy a property at a really good interest rate. Last year we were expecting to see interest rates above 5% so the fact that we have interest rates in the 4’s this year is great. This has definitely helped keep listings moving in our opinion.
When we take a look at current inventory levels in Queens, it is another record month because May marks the first time that we have 5,000+ homes for sale since September of 2014. Back in September 2014 we had 5,627 homes for sale in Queens, the next month that number dropped to about 4,700, and ever since then we have never had more than 5,000 homes for sale because those were the years of a deep seller’s market with historically low inventory. The fact that we have over 5,000 homes for sale, coupled with the fact that home sales are consistently declining, only reinforce the conclusion that we are currently in a shifting market that is trending more and more in favor of buyers.
We’ll continue to watch the market and keep you posted.
Month’s Supply
What is Month’s Supply? Months of supply is the measure of how many months it would take for the current inventory of homes on the market to sell, given the current pace of home sales. For example, if there are 50 homes on the market and 10 homes selling each month, there is a 5 month supply of homes for sale.
Months of supply is a good indicator of whether a particular real estate market is favoring buyers or sellers. Typically, a market that favors sellers has less than 6 months of supply, while more than 6 months of supply indicates an excess of homes for sale that favors buyers.
Month’s Supply in Queens NY
- Homes on the Market: 5,156
- Homes selling each month: 630
- Month’s Supply: 8.2
Market in Favor of: [ X ] Buyers [ ] Sellers [ ] Balanced
Queens Home Sales
The Long Island Board of Realtors reported a total of 670 home sales during the month of May. This was UP 5.2% from April but DOWN 4.1% compared to May of last year.
Thinking of Selling in the next 6-12 Months? Schedule a Free Listing Consultation to find out how to best prepare for the sale.
Queens Home Prices
In May, the median home price in Queens rose to $562,500, this is a UP .6% from April and DOWN 1.0% compared to May of last year. The median home price has dropped by approximately $5,500 since last year.
Specifically, the median home price for Residential homes was DOWN .7%, median price for condos was DOWN 11, and the median price for coops was UP 7.4% compared to May of last year.
Thinking of Buying a Home in Queens? Speak with a local real estate expert who can help line up your financing, find the right place, and negotiate on your behalf.
Interest Rates
Click Here for Today’s Rates
Inventory
There is currently a 8.2-month supply of housing inventory in Queens, this is up from the 7.8-month supply we had last month, and up from the 6.3 month’s supply we had in May of last year. As for active listings for sale, currently there are currently 5,156 homes for sale in Queens. That’s UP from the 4,910 homes we had for sale last month, and UP from the 4,119 homes for sale in June of last year. To put that into perspective, right now there are 1,037 more homes for sale in Queens county.
Learning lesson of the Month
This month we have had a new realization in terms of the market that we are in. Reason why is because within the last month or so we have put several new listings on the market, and of these listings, we have realized two things:
1) Activity is still high on new listings.
and
2) Although activity is high, offers are not.
For example, this month we listed a one family in Queens Village ($449K), a two family in Glendale ($999K), a one family in Woodside ($699K), and a two family in Maspeth ($899K). The one thing that was consistent with all of these properties is that we priced them all very well. In other words, we priced each one of these homes based on the current market that we are in. We looked very carefully at the recent closed sales, pending sales, month’s supply, and the amount of inventory that each property would be competing with. We didn’t test a high price with any of these so in our opinion they were all priced extremely well. We knew that we did a good job with pricing because each house received a lot of activity after hitting the market, however, they all received only a few offers which is nothing like what we were seeing a few years ago with similar activity.
As with all of our listings, we listed the homes, drove everyone to the first open houses, and then fielded any offers after the weekend. The one family in Queens Village had over 20 groups come by, and of those 20+ groups, we received 2 offers. The two family in Glendale had close to 30 groups, and of those 25+ groups, we received 2 offers. As for the one family in Woodside, we had over 20 groups come by as well, and of those groups, we received 3 offers. And lastly, the two family in Maspeth had over 40 groups come to the first open houses, and of these 40+ groups, we received 6 offers.
So what was the Aha here? Well, the good news is that all of our listings are still selling and all four of these will be in contract by end of month 🙂 What we really learned was that buyers are definitely out there and they are looking at homes, but it seems that they are either not as motivated to make offers, or they are out there looking for good deals. Many offers have been coming in below asking price which leads us to believe that buyers probably think that they have an advantage over sellers. Fortunately we have still managed to find buyers that will pay at or above asking price and that is probably due in large part to the interest rates holding steady. If sales continue to decline and inventory continues to grow, then you can bet that the market will likely continue to shift in favor of buyers.
Queens real estate market report provided by the Queens Home Team at Keller Williams Realty Landmark II.
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The Queens Home Team is a group of friendly, service driven real estate agents in Queens NY. Our team members are not only experts at what they do, but more importantly, they are driven by their desire to help people. The team approach is what truly separates us from the average Queens broker, because while most agents are one person doing several things, we have several agents doing one thing, and being great at it! This ensures expertise throughout all stages of the transaction and allows us to provide the superior level of service our clients deserve. We understand that real estate is a service industry, therefore we treat it as such. Rest assured that when you work with the Queens Home Team, you’ll be in good hands, with people who care 🙂
*The opinions expressed in This Queens Real Estate Market Report are intended to supplement opinions on real estate expressed by local and national media, local Queens real estate agents and other expert sources. You should not treat any opinion expressed on this report as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy, but only as an expression of opinion. The Queens Home Team at Keller Williams Realty Landmark II does not guarantee and is not responsible for the accuracy or completeness of information, and provides said information without warranties of any kind. All information presented herein is intended and should be used for educational purposes only. Nothing herein should be construed as investment advice. You should always conduct your own research and due diligence and obtain professional advice before making any investment decision. All investments involve some degree of risk. The Queens Home Team will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information contained in this report.