On a June 22 cast of "NBC Nightly News," Brian Williams reported that home prices fell 2.2 percent nationally in the same month, rather than increasing 6 percent as was projected.
According to a July report released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the number of contracts for home sales throughout the country dropped 30 percent in May. The estimate is based on the monthly Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI), which is worked out by the organization's researchers.
In Glen Cove, however, 68 housing sales have been closed through the first six months this year and 12 more are currently under contract, according to statistics presented by Michelle Berger Calo, a broker and founding partner at Glen Key Realty on Forest Avenue.
It's a figure Berger Calo described as "pretty good" considering the current state of the market.
"We've had a busy spring because of the $8,000 federal Home Buyer Tax Credit," she said, adding that the credit expired on April 30.
Berger Calo noted that around the deadline time, people had rushed to complete their contracts in order to meet the date and that, over the last two months, business has been slower.
The Multiple Listing Service (MLS) data, which is kept by the Long Island Board of Realtors, shows that prices have been steady in Nassau County since an initial plummet from almost $475,000 in 2008, and vacillating within a range between $375,000t to $425,000.
Included in the MLS stats were price medians. For the 68 homes that have been sold in the city, they were as follows: listing, $464,000, last purchased, $482,000, and finally sold, $423,750; indicating depreciation in market value. The median listing prices of the 12 currently under contract and 184 still on the market are $549,000 and $599,000, respectively.
Marc Greenstein, the vice president of Option Next Financial Solutions, a company that provides advice and assistance for homeowners who preparing to refinance their loans or sell, considers this to be a good market, or at least one that should be regarded with a positive attitude. He makes this judgment from the perspective of a buyer.
"We're converting into the same market we had in the late 80s and early 90s," he said.
He explained that there will be more opportunities for people with good credit and savings to buy houses that will, more likely, maintain a value that matches its price in the long run.
"This is definitely a buyer's market," Berger Calo added.
Lawrence Levy, Executive Director of the National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University, pointed out that low income residents are suffering the most from the recession on Long Island.
The New York State Banking Department announced on June 10 that 57,256 New York homeowners were sent pre-foreclosure notices between February and May, with about 25 percent living in Nassau and Suffolk counties.
"Foreclosures are generally harder on the poor," Levy said.
Websites like RealtyTrac.com and MLS.com, have around 50 Glen Cove properties listed as being in default and at risk of being foreclosed by their lenders this year to-date.
However, Berger Calo, who opened Glen Key Realty with a partner a little more than a year ago, said that contrary to the heightened sense of risk infused with her venture, it has been a success so far.
"The buyers are out there ... especially new homeowners," she said, noting that the city's community atmosphere and proximity to the Long Island Sound are a few of the non-measurable kinds of assets to sellers.
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