Are the super rich leaving NYC?
While we've learned to take them with a grain of salt, the first quarter Manhattan market reports are out today, and the main thing we've gleaned from them: NYC is still a playground for the rich, but the super-rich may be headed elsewhere to play.
Demand for super high-end properties has calmed down in favor of the medium high-end properties (in the under-$2 million range), which are white-hot. (This may have something to do with the fact that super-high end properties have been built up like crazy — just take a walk down 57th Street and you'll see).
According to the Douglas Elliman market report, the top 10 percent of co-ops and condos saw its median sales price fall over 10 percent to $5,142,162. (Translation: Good deals to be had if you happen to be on the top half of the 1 percent). And there were also nearly 20 percent fewer luxury sales compared to last year.
Frederick Warburg Peters, president of Warburg Realty, says in a blog post the numbers reflect the fact that new developments that are slightly less expensive are opening up, as well as the weakening Euro and trouble with the Russian economy. In his blog, Peters also mentions that co-ops — even the often sought-after co-ops of Park Avenue and Sutton Place — are lagging on the market since buyers are less interested in dealing with the board.
As usual, though, the market reports paint somewhat different pictures, with different numbers across the board. But it seems that everyone agrees housing prices either have plateaued or fell slightly, meaning that though the market is still in favor of sellers, it may be slightly less so than buyers fear.
(The more competitive -- and therefore more pricey -- market this year may actually be in Brooklyn. So brace yourselves Brooklynites.)
Inventory levels in Manhattan did increase, but only slightly. Here are the numbers, according to the firms:
Median price: $900,000, a .2% decrease from the same time last year
Median price per square foot: $1,401, a 3 % decrease from last year
Median asking price for available inventory: $1,565,000, up 20.8% since a year ago
Percentage of available inventory that was listed in previous quarters: 62.5%
Inventory: 7,986, up 7.7 percent since last year
Median price: $955,000, up 6 %
Average (note, not median) price per square foot: $1,602, increased 5%
Average new development closed sale price: $2.89 million, fell 11%
Inventory: 4, 973 units, 1% decrease
Median new development closed sale price: $1. 57 million, declined 12%
Median sales price: $970,000, unchanged
Price per square foot: $1,263, down 7.3 percent
Number of sales: 2,661, fell 19.5%
Listing inventory: 5,243, increased 5.5%
Related:
Your prayers have been answered: Outer borough rents are calming down
Do yourself a favor: Ignore this week's real estate data dump
When numbers collide: why Zillow, StreetEasy, and Trulia don't agree on apartment prices
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