Home sales drop across New York as mortgage rates remain above 7% in May

Home sales dropped across New York State in May as mortgage rates continued to remain above seven percent, according to the housing report released today by the New York State Association of REALTORS®.

Closed sales dipped 4.1 percent from 8,826 homes to 8,465 homes in year-over-year comparisons. Pending sales were down from 10,981 units in May 2023 to 8,465 homes last month. This marks a 4.0 percent decrease. New listings were up 2.1 percent in May – from 14,957 listings in 2023 to 15,265 homes in 2024.

Mortgage rates hit as high as 7.22 percent in May according to Freddie Mac and settled on an average monthly rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage of 7.06 percent. A year ago, at this time, the interest rate stood at 6.43 percent.

Inventory of homes across New York continues to drop. In May 2023 there were 29,236 available homes across the Empire State compared to just 26,076 last month, representing a 10.8 percent drop in year-over-year comparisons.

Median sales prices jumped up 8.3 percent in May, climbing 8.3 percent from $390,000 in May 2023 to $422,500 in 2024.