Real LI

Median home-closing prices on Long Island and Queens tumbled by double digits last month compared to the same period a year ago, according to a report by the Multiple Listing Service of Long Island.

In Nassau, October’s median price for closed deals was $425,000, about a 10 percent drop from the $474,000 median of October 2007. In Suffolk, the median home sale price last month was $345,000, about 10 percent lower than $385,000 the prior year, the report said.

The median closing price in Queens last month was $385,000, down 14 percent from $448,500 during the same period in the previous year, according to the data.

Residential inventory was down slightly last month from October 2007, the MLS report said.
In Nassau, the inventory of 9,929 properties on the market is a 1.1 percent decrease from a year ago. Suffolk’s 13,989 represents a 4.3 percent decline. And in Queens, 11,303 properties is 2.2 percent lower than the same period in the previous year.

Vi Matherson, branch manager at Coldwell Banker Matherson, in Deer Park, said lenders that had been too loose with their standards for credit have swung to the other extreme, refusing to make loans to prospective buyers even if they have decent credit and can make a down payment.

"Unless this financial situation loosens up for the buyers," Matherson said, "I think the real estate market will deteriorate much further."

- EMI ENDO