manhattan market reports"
New York City Real Estate Market
Last week the major brokerages released their market reports and the news was grim.
- Overall transactions down over 50%
- Closings over 10mil down 82%
- Loft sales down 73%
- Average sales price down 28%
- 3081 transactions in the second quarter of 2008
- 2727 transactions in the first six months of 2009
The majority of sales were under a million dollars so this is where we have the most transparency. It is the only area of the market that is ‘normal’ with enough transactions to give a clear valuation. In our business we see that if a property is priced correctly (25%-30% discount for the market) it will attract multiple bids.
The higher the price the more frozen the market becomes. There are so few sales that sellers cannot get a clear direction and so remain in limbo. This will be the status quo until jumbo mortgages return.
Predictions:
- Value is hot and excess is not.
- Luxury will always be with us. However the definition of luxury has changed.
- Room count is more valuable than square footage. No one wants to pay up for a 2000 square-foot, two bedroom loft if a 1500 square-foot apartment is less money.
- We are not at the bottom of the market.
- Brokerage firms will reduce the sizes of their offices and close some.
Credit: Jonathan Miller: Matrix
Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate Market Overview
