Real Estate Information

After strong demand over the past two quarters, market wide transaction activity pulled back during Fourth Quarter 2011 to approximately 2,600 sales, the lowest level of activity since Second Quarter 2009. The number of quarterly sales was 12% lower than Fourth Quarter 2010 and 20% lower than Third Quarter 2011.

The condo and co-op market statistics were divergent this quarter, and fundamentals should be viewed separately. Condo inventory decreased 11% from a year ago due to limited new development openings but in contrast, co-op availability remained even.

Limited availability in the condo market has led to a surge in pricing. Condo median price and average price per square foot in Fourth Quarter 2011 were at their highest levels since the downturn. Co-op median price declined this quarter while average price per square foot held relatively firm from one year ago and declined only marginally from Third Quarter 2011. In the new development sector, supply cannot keep pace with demand and several markets are already under-supplied; when properties enter the market they are highly anticipated and get absorbed rapidly, usually with price increases.

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Marketwide Summary

There was a seasonal rise in market-wide inventory but a decline in sales this September. Listed market-wide inventory increased 10% from August. Despite the seasonal 70% increase in new listings from last month, market-wide inventory was still 7% lower than last September. Contract activity for both condos and co-ops decreased in September compared to last month and last year. Condo and co-op average discount from last ask to sale was smaller than last year at 5%. The average number of days on market was just over 6 months for both condos and co-ops.

To view the entire report please click this link.

With strong sales, lower inventory and steady price growth, the residential real estate market showed signs of continued improvement. Third Quarter 2011 recorded the highest number of transactions since Second Quarter 2008 – before the downturn. The number of market-wide sales increased 15% from Third Quarter 2010 and 6% from Second Quarter 2011. The growth in sales was propelled by the strength of certain market segments, including studios and one-bedrooms borough-wide, Downtown resales and Upper West Side new developments. At over 8,750 listings, market-wide listed inventory declined 5% from both last quarter and one year ago. This erosion in availability can be attributed to steadily declining supply in the new development market. The number of new listings declined throughout the first two months of the quarter but rose in September with the beginning of the Fall season.

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The number of contracts signed increased compared to last August for both condominiums and co-ops. Whereas sales typically slow down in August, co-op sales increased from both last year and last month by 13% and 4%, respectively. Sales in larger condominiums increased this month leading to positive trends in condominium pricing from August 2010. Both market-wide listed inventory and the number of new listings coming to market declined from last month and last year. Click here for the full report.

Seth Godin wrote a splendid blog honoring New York on the 10 year anniversay of 9/11:

The other day, walking through Grand Central, I bumped into a friend, here on vacation with his fiancee.

I got to thinking about why New York City attracts so many tourists, more than just about any city in the world. Not because of natural wonders or even outdoor sports activities. It might be because:

• It’s different here (as in not the same)
• You can find someone to have an argument with, about just about anything
• There are fringes--cultural, educational, architectural, societal
• More than 42 languages are spoken at the Queens public library
• You can get something that’s not the regular kind
• There are profit-seekers who will happily sell you something, anything
• There are many who do things for no profit at all and will eagerly entertain, entrance and change you for the better
• You will find a diversity of religious belief like no other
• It’s changing
• The food hasn't been entirely homogenized
• People are active
• A stranger will go out of his way for you, perhaps, and more often than you expect
• There is more information per minute, per meter and per interaction
• Neighborhoods are more important than homogeneity, and co-existing is most important

The thing is, here can be anywhere. There are New Yorks going on in towns large and small, in companies big and tiny and in families that support and respect at the same time they embrace and encourage difference.

I remember ten years ago like it was yesterday, looking out the window of my office and wondering if it (all of it) was over. I remember those that suffered and were lost, and those brave enough to risk everything. Not sure we'll ever forget, or if we should.

But now more than ever, I believe we have an obligation to stand up, stand out and to do work that matters. Wherever you are, there's an opportunity to be different, with respect.

Manhattan continued to enjoy significant sales activity in the Second Quarter of the year as market-wide sales increased 15% over the First Quarter.  Renewed levels of competition led prices higher as buyers took advantage of lower pricing in the resale market.  Manhattan’s median price in the Second Quarter reached $790,000, up 9%, and the average price per square foot was $1024, an increase of 4% from a year ago.

In many ways, the Second Quarter was the most relentlessly average period of sales activity in several years: it displayed typically active sales for the spring season, with prices driven modestly upward by competition, but without breaking any records. Click here to view the entire report.

According to the Real Deal:

New development condominium sales are up year-over-year in both Manhattan and Brooklyn for the second quarter of 2011, according to a second-quarter new development report released today by residential real estate firm MNS. 

In Manhattan, condo sales prices were up 18 percent on an average compared to the second quarter of 2010, according to the report. 

The Manhattan apartment rental market has been heating up for months, and second-quarter market reports released Friday by residential brokerages Citi Habitats and Prudential Douglas Elliman show skyrocketing rents. Now, the question is how long the price increases will continue. The Citi Habitats report, which covers all transactions brokered by the firm in the second quarter and takes concessions into account, shows a year-over-year increase in price of about 10 percent for Manhattan apartments. The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan was $2,672 and two-bedroom units averaged $3,757 per month, up 9.2 percent and 10.8 percent, respectively, from the second quarter of 2010.  Source: The Real Deal.

According to Forbes Magazine, New York City boasts five of the most expensive zip codes out of the top 25 in the United States

• #3 - 10014 The West Village
• #9 - 10065 East 60’s
• #16 - 10075 East 70’s
• #18 - 10013 TriBeCa
• #24 - 10012 SoHo

Click the link below for the most recent statistics regarding the Manhattan Real Estate Market.

Patric Lilly Group's Featured Manhattan Property Listings can be found by clicking here.