May 25, 2026 · Updated May 25, 2026
The median sale price for homes in Brookhaven reached $700,000 last month, up 25% year over year, as tight inventory and persistent buyer demand push prices across Suffolk County. Homes in the town are selling in roughly 50 days on average, faster than many buyers expected heading into the summer 2026 market.
The median sale price for a home in Brookhaven reached $700,000 last month, up 25% from a year earlier, as eastern Suffolk County's housing market continues to tighten despite expectations heading into 2026 that the pace of appreciation would slow.
Homes in Brookhaven are selling in roughly 50 days on average, according to Redfin market data. That pace puts the town — Long Island's largest by land area, running from the North Shore communities of Stony Brook and Port Jefferson down through the pine barrens to Patchogue and Bellport on the South Shore — in a position where sellers still hold most of the leverage. Buyers who paused in late 2025 expecting relief are finding the spring 2026 market roughly as competitive as the one they left.
Across Long Island, the spring 2026 market is being shaped by the same forces that have defined the post-pandemic housing landscape: limited inventory, sustained demand from commuters and school-district buyers, and mortgage rates that have moderated from their 2023 peaks but remain high enough to keep many potential move-up sellers locked in place.
In Suffolk County overall, the single-family median closed at $714,900 in April 2026, up 6.7% year over year. Nassau County's median reached $852,000, up 7.8%. Brookhaven's 25% annual gain outpaces both county-wide figures, which suggests that eastern Suffolk is experiencing a compression effect: buyers priced out of Nassau and western Suffolk markets are moving further east, and communities like Coram, Medford, Centereach, and Selden are absorbing demand that would have landed closer to the city five years ago.
Redfin's April 2026 buyer-seller analysis ranked Nassau County as the strongest seller's market among major metros it tracked, with 28.4% fewer active sellers than buyers. Suffolk County did not reach that extreme, but the gap between supply and demand in towns like Brookhaven remains wide enough that well-priced homes in the $550,000–$750,000 range are drawing multiple offers within the first week of listing.
The buyers who are active in Brookhaven right now tend to fall into a few categories. First-time buyers chasing the entry-level market — which in Brookhaven now starts around $450,000 for a three-bedroom in communities like Mastic Beach or Center Moriches — are competing against investors and all-cash offers on the same properties. Move-up buyers, typically looking in the $700,000–$900,000 range, face a different version of the same problem: not enough homes at that price point, and sellers who know it.
Buyers are becoming more deliberate about monthly costs. With a 6.8% 30-year fixed rate, a $700,000 purchase with 20% down produces a principal and interest payment of roughly $3,670 per month, before taxes and insurance. In Brookhaven, property taxes on a home assessed at that value run $10,000 to $14,000 annually depending on the specific school district — Sachem, South Country, and Comsewogue are among the larger ones. Total monthly housing costs in the $5,500–$6,500 range are not unusual, which explains why buyers are scrutinizing tax bills with more care than they did when rates were under 4%.
The seller's advantage in Brookhaven is real but not unconditional. Long Island real estate agents tracking the spring market say overpriced listings are sitting. The "anything sells instantly" phase that defined 2021 and 2022 has ended; buyers are walking away from homes that need significant work or carry unusually high taxes unless the price reflects those factors.
Homes that are well-prepared — fresh paint, decluttered, professionally photographed — and priced within 5% of comparable sales are still moving quickly. The 50-day average in Brookhaven is a median figure; correctly priced homes are often under contract in 10 to 15 days, while improperly priced ones pull that average up significantly by sitting for 90 days or more.
Estate sales and downsizing households are beginning to add modest inventory to the market. Long Island agents forecast a slow-growth rather than boom-or-bust 2026: prices will continue to rise, but at a lower rate than the 20%-plus gains that characterized 2021 through parts of 2023. A significant correction is not widely expected given the structural drivers — commuter demand, school-district competition, and a shortage of new construction across the township.
Brookhaven is the largest town on Long Island by area, and it still struggles to produce significant new housing inventory. Zoning constraints, infrastructure costs, and the sheer density of existing development in the western hamlets combine to limit new single-family starts. The limited new construction that does come to market tends to cluster in smaller subdivisions near Yaphank, Middle Island, and eastern Brookhaven, where land is more available but commutes to Manhattan or western Nassau stretch to 75 minutes or more by LIRR.
The net effect is that the existing housing stock absorbs nearly all the demand. A three-bedroom ranch built in the 1960s in Centereach or Holbrook is competing for the same buyer pool as a more recently renovated cape in Stony Brook, at very different price points, and both are moving.
The summer market in Brookhaven historically sees a slight easing of pace as families with school-age children close purchases before the June cutoff. Activity typically picks back up in September. Buyers who have been waiting may find marginally less competition in July and August, though the inventory shortage does not resolve seasonally.
Anyone buying in Brookhaven this year should verify school district boundaries before making an offer — they do not always align with community names and ZIP codes, and the difference between adjacent districts can be several thousand dollars in annual taxes on the same assessed value. The town assessor's office at (631) 451-9009 can confirm district assignments by address.
