Buying opportunities as sales drop 20 percent

 By Wei Min Tan

It’s now official. Consistent with my previous updates about now Manhattan being a buyer’s market, recently published reports show Q3 2016 sales volume down 20 percent.  

The market is especially favorable to cash buyers and this is evidenced by the numerous deals, whether pricing or concessions, we managed to negotiate for buyer clients recently.

Q2, 2016 Manhattan Market Performance

By Wei Min Tan


1) Average price per sqft of a Manhattan Condo was $2,073, up 30 percent compared to a year ago.  The average Condo apartment was $2.758 million in Q2.  This is skewed upwards as driven by new development closings.  

Are millennials being squeezed out of the property market?

In America today, millennials, also known as Generation Y (those born between the 1980s and early 2000s), are being squeezed out of the housing market because of rising home prices, higher unemployment rate among millennials, lack of down payment and inability to get a mortgage because of college loans.  

Manhattan, highly efficient real estate market

Manhattan is likely the most efficient real estate market in the world.  By efficient, I am referring to being properly priced and price being in-line with fundamentals.  This includes transacting at the right price, sellers asking at around the right price and buyers offering at around the right price.

3 Things To Know About The Manhattan Residential Market

1.  Average rent at $3,418 is a new record and has exceeded the pre-recession peak.
2.  Q1 2012 condo price per square foot was $1,317, up 8.3% compared to prior year.
3.  Spike in buyer demand in March and April, as if all buyers, local and foreign, have decided now is the time to get off the fence.  

Manhattan - the most efficient real estate market

Manhattan, New York is the most efficient and transparent real estate market in the world.  Reasons are:

1.  Closed transactions are public record
In Manhattan, data is openly available on all units that closed within each building.  For example, if recent transactions all closed at around $1500 per square foot, there is a good certainty that the next transaction will close around that.  Not $2000 and not $1000 per square foot unless there is some extraordinary variable such as being a penthouse unit or a unit needing heavy renovation.