(Bloomberg) -- Home listings are increasing in some New York City suburbs, though not enough to satisfy insatiable buyer demand.
Inventory on Long Island -- including the Hamptons and the North Fork -- has been climbing for the past three months as sellers see opportunity to cash in on their long-held properties, according to a report Thursday by appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and brokerage Douglas Elliman Real Estate.
But the rate of contracts is rising even more.
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In the portion of Long Island closest to the city, single-family home listings jumped 69% in May from a year earlier to 3,282. At the same time, purchase contracts soared 162% to 2,551. For condos, listings in the area were up 64%, while deals nearly quadrupled.
The Hamptons, the beach towns on the island's East End that have drawn city-dwellers seeking a pandemic escape, saw 148 new single-family listings last month, 10% more than a year earlier. Buyers there signed contracts for 145 houses, a 50% increase.
The suburban market “is still strong and improving and it's not failing or weakening because the city is starting to thrive,” said Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel. “It's not a zero-sum calculation. It's still pressing higher.”
In the city's northern suburbs, inventory is falling as buyers clamor for whatever they can get. Last month, Westchester County saw listings drop 20% from a year earlier to 639, while contracts jumped 81%, the firms said.
In Greenwich, Connecticut, deals more than tripled to 165, while listings slipped 7.3% to 102.
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