Long Island Housing Market Update – July 2026: Home Prices Keep Climbing Despite Affordability Challenges

If you've been waiting for the Long Island housing market to suddenly become dramatically easier for buyers, July's numbers probably aren't what you were hoping to see.

Home prices moved higher across Suffolk, Nassau, and Queens compared with a year ago. At the same time, the number of homes available for sale declined in all three counties. That's an important combination because it tells us something that a headline about home prices alone can't: the supply problem on Long Island hasn't gone away.

But there's another side to this story.

Affordability remains challenging, homes aren't behaving exactly the same everywhere, and the differences between Suffolk, Nassau, and Queens are becoming increasingly important. Even within the same county, the market for a single-family home can look very different from the condo or co-op market.

So rather than simply saying, "prices are up," let's take a closer look at what actually happened in July—and more importantly, what these numbers mean if you're thinking about buying or selling a home on Long Island.

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First, Here's the July Market at a Glance

Year-over-year percentage changes shown. Source: OneKey® MLS July 2026 Monthly Indicators. Data as of August 7, 2026.

At first glance, that table might make it look like all three counties are following essentially the same path. They're not.

Suffolk continues to show particularly strong conditions for single-family homes. Nassau is seeing increased sales activity even with higher prices. And Queens—which has a much larger mix of single-family homes, condos, and co-ops—requires a little more digging before the headline median price tells us much of anything useful.

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Suffolk County: This Is Still a Very Competitive Single-Family Market

Let's start close to home.

Across all residential property types in Suffolk County, the median sales price reached $720,000 in July, up 5.9% from a year ago. Closed sales increased 4.1%, while the number of homes available for sale declined 10.3%.

The single-family numbers tell an even stronger story.

The median single-family sales price climbed from $700,000 last July to $750,000 this July—a 7.1% increase. Closed sales increased 3.7%, and homes reached an accepted offer in an average of 37 days compared with 39 days last year.

Here's the statistic that really gets my attention: sellers of single-family homes received an average of 102.6% of their original asking price.

That doesn't mean you can put any price on a home and expect buyers to line up. You can't. But it does tell us that when a property is positioned correctly and buyers perceive value, competition remains very real.

And buyers are competing over fewer choices. Single-family inventory dropped from 3,382 homes last July to 3,105 this July, while months of supply declined from 3.6 to 3.3 months.

That's really the Suffolk story right now: prices are rising because demand continues to meet a limited supply of available homes.

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Nassau County: Buyers Are Still Showing Up

Nassau County tells a similar story, but there's an interesting wrinkle in the sales activity.

The overall median sales price increased 3.9% to $862,250, while closed sales jumped 5.8%. For single-family homes specifically, the median reached $880,000, up 2.9% from July 2025.

But look beyond the price for a moment.

Single-family pending sales increased 8.0% and closed sales increased 7.6%. Meanwhile, available single-family inventory fell 4.5%.

In other words, higher prices haven't eliminated buyer demand.

Homes did take slightly longer to reach an accepted offer—38 days compared with 34 last July—but sellers still received an average of 101% of their original asking price.

This is a good example of why I don't like drawing conclusions from one statistic. If you looked only at days on market, you might conclude that Nassau was weakening. But then you'd be ignoring higher prices, more pending sales, more closings, fewer available homes, and sellers still averaging above their original asking price.

Context matters.

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Queens: The Headline Number Needs Some Explanation

Queens is where things get particularly interesting.

The median sales price across all residential property types jumped 13.3% year over year to $680,000. That's easily the largest percentage increase of the three counties.

But I wouldn't look at that number and conclude that the typical Queens home suddenly appreciated 13.3%.

Remember, the overall Queens figure combines single-family homes, condominiums, and co-ops—three very different property types with very different price points. Changes in the mix of properties sold during a particular month can move the overall median considerably.

Looking specifically at single-family homes gives us a clearer comparison. The median single-family price was $910,000, up a much more modest 1.2% from $899,500 last July. Pending single-family sales increased 5.7%, closed sales increased 2.3%, and inventory dropped a substantial 15.4%.

Condos and co-ops tell different stories again. The condo median rose 6.9% to $650,000, while the co-op median increased 4.3% to $339,000. Co-op closed sales, however, declined 12.2%, even as pending co-op sales jumped 34.4%.

That's why Queens deserves to be analyzed separately rather than lumped together with Nassau and Suffolk. There's simply more variation within the housing stock.

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So, Is Long Island Still a Seller's Market?

Broadly speaking, sellers continue to benefit from limited inventory—especially in the single-family markets of Suffolk and Nassau.

But I think we need to be careful with the phrase "seller's market."

It doesn't mean every seller holds all the cards. And it certainly doesn't mean every home will receive multiple offers.

Buyers are paying attention. They know when a property is overpriced. They know when another home offers better value. And because affordability is already stretched, many buyers simply don't have unlimited room to increase their offers.

For sellers, that makes the initial pricing and marketing strategy extremely important. The goal isn't to ask for the highest imaginable number. It's to position the home where today's buyers recognize the value and want to compete for it.

And once offers arrive, remember that price isn't the only thing that matters. Financing, down payment, appraisal exposure, inspection terms, contingencies, and closing flexibility can all affect the strength of an offer. I recently broke that down in more detail in my guide to choosing the best offer when selling your Long Island home.

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What Should Buyers Take From These Numbers?

If you're buying, I wouldn't look at July's numbers and think, "I have to overpay."

That's not the lesson.

The lesson is that you need to understand the individual property you're pursuing.

A well-priced home that's been on the market for three days may require a very different strategy than a home that's been sitting for 45 days. A property with several competing offers is a different negotiation from one where the seller has already reduced the price.

Preparation matters. Know your numbers before you start looking, have your financing in place, understand the recent comparable sales, and determine how much flexibility you truly have before emotions enter the equation.

And remember that the purchase price is only part of affordability. Taxes, insurance, financing costs, maintenance, and closing costs all affect what owning that home will actually cost you.

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What I'm Watching as We Head Toward Fall

Inventory.

That's still the number I keep coming back to.

Across Suffolk, Nassau, and Queens, the number of properties available for sale was lower this July than it was one year ago. Until that changes meaningfully, buyers are likely to continue facing competition for desirable homes.

But I'll also be watching affordability and pending sales closely.

There is a limit to what buyers can absorb. If prices continue rising while affordability declines, eventually something has to adjust—whether that's through interest rates, price growth slowing, more inventory coming onto the market, or some combination of the three.

For now, though, July's data doesn't show a broad Long Island market suddenly turning in favor of buyers. What it shows is a market that's becoming more nuanced while remaining constrained by supply.

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The Bottom Line

Here's what I want homeowners and buyers to remember: there really isn't one "Long Island real estate market."

There's Suffolk. There's Nassau. There's Queens. Then there are individual towns, neighborhoods, property types, price ranges—and ultimately the specific home sitting in front of you.

Countywide statistics help us understand the direction the market is moving, but they can't tell you exactly what your house is worth or exactly what you should offer on the home you want to buy.

That's where local market analysis becomes important.

If you're considering selling, the question isn't simply, "Are Long Island prices up?" It's "What are buyers paying for homes like mine, in my area, right now?"

And if you're buying, the question isn't simply whether we're in a buyer's or seller's market. It's how much competition exists for the particular home you're considering—and what strategy gives you the best opportunity without losing sight of your financial goals.

Market statistics are based on OneKey® MLS July 2026 Monthly Indicators for Suffolk County, Nassau County, and Queens County, with data reported as of August 7, 2026. Countywide statistics are intended to provide a general overview of market activity and may not represent conditions for a particular property, neighborhood, or price range.