ยป VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM
77 77
NEW YORK
Why Is the Manhattan Housing Market Slowing Down?
Properties in the tony Manhattan borough of New York City
spent the greatest number of days on market in six years according
to a report on Manhattan's housing market by residential broker-
age firm Stribling & Associates.
e report which covers sales, contracts, and inventory levels
across the borough revealed that the luxury threshold (defined by
Stribling as the top 10 percent of all sales) stood at $4.35 million.
Many legacy contracts signed in new developments in the borough
up to two years ago or more finalized their sales in Q 42018 driv-
ing up the average price in Manhattan by 1.8 percent, even as the
median price dropped 4.4 percent. "In healthier markets, these
numbers would have moved correspondingly," said Garrett Derde-
rian, Director of Data and Reporting at Stribling.
e borough recorded a decline of 10 percent in total sales com-
pared to the same period last year and was down 25 percent from
the high recorded in Q 42015, the report indicated. "Every quarter
of 2018 saw a decrease in the number of sales over the same period
one year ago, including the most recent quarter," Derderian said.
"e striking occurrence now is the number of sales hit a post-
crash low. e last time we observed so few fourth-quarter sales
was 2011."
Despite the decline in sales, the report revealed that sales
volume in terms of dollars increased with total sales volume for
Q 42018 up 1.6 percent to $4.07 billion from $4.01 billion a year
ago. Yet, according to Derderian, the total volume remained down
from the nearly $5 billion recorded in 2015.
Additionally, discounts in price listings continued to rise dur-
ing the quarter in Manhattan. While the average discounts for
properties in the borough were at 6.4 percent off the initial asking
price in Q 32018, they grew to 7.9 percent in Q 4, though they
weren't evenly spread.
Looking at the inventory in the area, the report found that
there were 7,019 units on the market at the end of Q 42018. Of
these, condo units made up the largest share of the inventory with
49 percent.
