…The final quarter of 2013 represented a strong
finish to a year that appeared to mark the Long
Island housing market’s transition from a stable
market to an improving market. Housing price
indicators moved higher, the number of sales
surged to a multi-year high, while listing inventory
slid to a record low.

The number of sales surged 31.8% to 5,982,
the highest fourth quarter total in 7 years. The
market seemingly rebounded from the weak Superstorm Sandy related sales activity last year
along with the late year rush of “fence-sitters”
entering the market before mortgage rates
moved higher. Listing inventory fell 12.2% to
12,801, the lowest level reached since we began
tracking this metric more than a decade ago.
As a result of rising demand and falling supply,
the absorption rate, the number of months to
sell all listing inventory at the current pace of
sales, fell to 6.4 months from 9.6 months in
the prior year quarter…