The median price for a home in New York state jumped 7.4% and sales dropped 1.1% last year as a shortage of supply held back the market, according to the New York State Association of Realtors.

The statewide median price for houses, condominiums and townhomes was $290,000, the Realtors group said in a report on Thursday. That compares with a U.S. median price of $271,800 in 2019 that was 4.8% higher than a year earlier, according to data from the National Association of Realtors.

Like the rest of the U.S., a shortage of homes on the market ratcheted up the competition, leading to a faster pace of price gains. Inventory in New York dropped 8.4% from a year earlier, compared with an 8.5% national drop of homes on the market.

“A strong economy sent buyers in search of their dream home in 2019, yet many were constrained by low inventory levels all year,” the report said.

A dearth of new supply from homebuilders has driven up prices for everyone, including existing home buyers, and stifled sales at a time when low mortgage rates and strong household formation has boosted demand.

New York’s so-called “months supply” data that measures how long it would take to sell off the existing stock of homes on the market fell to 4.9 in 2019, compared with 5.6 in 2018, according to the New York report. Most economists consider a six-month supply to be a balanced market.

The post New York state’s median home price jumps 7.4% appeared first on HousingWire.