For many suburbanites, asking price is opening bid.

The residential real estate market in the tri-state area, including Long Island and Connecticut, has never been so competitive.

Prices for fine homes are up 12% to 15% in towns like Locust Valley, Port Washington, Manhasset and Brookville from what they were a year ago, and I see continued price increases in the face of steady demand and a limited inventory of available properties.

In Greenwich, Robert Wilder, my colleague in the Douglas Elliman office there reports the aver age sales price of a house in the first nine months of the year was up about 32%, compared to the same period a year ago. Transaction volume -- the value of all homes sold in Greenwich -- was up 40% to 45% in the third quarter compared to last year.

The market today reminds me of what it was like in the latel98O's, because it is so tagged to the stock market.

As long as the stock market stays intact, we'll stay intact. In June and July, we experienced a slight slowdown because of stock market fluctuations, and then the market took off again. It's the same booming market as we experienced last year.

It's very much a luxury market in Long Island, with demand at its peak by young families looking for properties on the north shore as primary residences or a weekend alternative to the Hamptons. We see affluent home seekers in the 35 to early 40's age group looking for traditional homes, versus contemporary houses, in great school districts. Karen Newhouse, a Douglas Elliman sales manager in Port Washington, says a couple recently bought a ranch house for $1.4 million, but they plan to add a second story to make it a traditional home.

The typical in-demand property is a house on a quarter acre in a community like Glen Cove or Seacliff in the price range of $350,000 to $450,000. New construction is hindered because there is little land available in Long Island. In Greenwich, families with young children, most from the New York metro area, also prefer renovated older homes or to new construction. Greenwich is distinctive because there also is a tremendous second-home market, says Robert Wilder. Again the same problem there: the inventory is so low and the pipeline is so full of would-be buyers, including many Europeans who like the proximity to New York City.

Sellers are getting their asking prices -- and sometimes more than asking. For example, the Douglas Elliman Locust Valley office recently sold a 27-acre horse farm in Upper Brookville that has been listed four years. It sold for $8.4 million, 5% above the original asking price. Similarly, a brick Colonial on two acres with a swimming pool sold for $1.9 million, significantly above the asking price. Soon after it went on the market, we got four offers for the house.

Young families who prospered from the stock market and Internet enterprises don't seem bothered by prices, as Karen Newhouse points out. If they can find a property they like, they are willing to pay for it. The slim pickings of available properties makes it difficult for real estate brokers to satisfy the demands of clients, Karen adds, especially when there is little land available for new construction.