New York City Home Listings Reach Four-Year High as Contracts Slip and Rents Rise

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New York City sellers put more homes on the market in September than in any month since March 2022, yet buyers signed fewer contracts and rental availability tightened. The combination is a reminder that a rush of new listings does not necessarily mean a city has escaped its housing shortage.

StreetEasy’s October 15 market report counted 4,951 newly listed homes for sale across the five boroughs, up 7.6% from September 2025. Signed contracts fell 5.4% to 1,528. The listing platform attributed part of the slowdown to sharply higher mortgage rates, which have reduced the budgets of buyers who depend on financing.

The distinction between new supply and total supply is important. Despite September’s inflow, 16,737 homes were available for sale citywide, 4.9% fewer than a year earlier. A listing can enter the market during a busy month without adding to year-end inventory if another property sells, expires or is withdrawn. StreetEasy’s figures do not establish a broad buyer’s market.

Completed transactions still showed competitive bidding. According to the report, 21.1% of homes sold above their latest asking price in September. That measure describes homes that actually closed, often after contracts negotiated weeks earlier; it should not be read as a forecast of bidding conditions for newly listed properties in October.

The city’s median asking price was $995,000, down 5.2% year over year. Median marketing time rose to 88 days, 14 days longer than a year earlier. The asking-price measure reflects the properties advertised during the period and can change with the mix of units, while days on market captures a different part of the negotiation cycle. Neither alone measures price appreciation for identical homes.

Manhattan generated 2,689 new sale listings, an increase of 6.8%. Resale condominiums accounted for 1,054 of those listings, up 15.8%, while new sponsor condominium listings fell 18% to 155. That split matters to developers: existing owners can decide to sell even when higher financing and construction costs discourage new projects from reaching the market.

Long Island City posted the most dramatic percentage increase among the neighborhoods highlighted by StreetEasy, with 113 new listings, up 205.4% from a year earlier. Several new development launches contributed. The small neighborhood base makes a triple-digit increase less representative of the city than the headline percentage might suggest.

The rental market moved in the opposite direction. Citywide rental inventory fell 15.3% to 29,029 units, the steepest annual decline in four years, while the median asking rent climbed 3.9% to $4,150. Manhattan’s median asking rent held at $4,995; Brooklyn reached $3,945, up 3.8%. StreetEasy reported that Brooklyn rental inventory fell 18.4% to 10,758 listings.

The tension between sale listings and rental scarcity has practical consequences. Prospective buyers priced out by financing costs may remain tenants longer. Owners contemplating a sale must consider whether the available buyer pool can support their price. Rental brokers face a different challenge: limited inventory and persistent competition even as home-sale negotiations lengthen.

StreetEasy is a listing platform, and its market statistics should be understood as its own dataset rather than a government census of every transaction. Its findings also arrive amid changes in New York listing practices: WRE News previously covered StreetEasy’s same-day listing deadline. Market participants should examine listing definitions and reporting windows before comparing figures from different platforms.

For now, the clearest signal is divergence. More homeowners tested the sales market in September, while fewer buyers entered contract and fewer rental units were available. The next report will show whether the new-listing surge produces a sustained increase in active inventory or proves a short-lived autumn rush.