Manhattan housing market makes record rebound to close out 2021
Photo by Daniel Lee on Unsplash
New York City real estate made a major comeback to close out 2021, experts say. According to a new report from Compass, condo and co-op sales volume hit $7 billion in the last quarter of the year, the highest of any fourth quarter on record. More than 3,400 apartments were sold in this quarter, between October 1 and December 31, up 79 percent from the previous year and the highest total in a Q4 since 2013. After Covid crippled much of the market in 2020, 2021 saw an impressive turnaround in Manhattan, particularly with the sales of luxury properties, new development condos, and townhouses.
The record-breaking fourth quarter follows a third quarter that saw more apartments sold in Manhattan than at any point during the last 30 years of tracking, as 6sqft reported in October.
According to the market report from Compass, the average sales price was $1,913,604, up 5.5 percent year-over-year, and the median sales price was $1,134,463, up 11.2 percent year-over-year. The price of condos rose this quarter, rising 7.2 percent compared to this time last year.
“New York is a desirable destination at all price points. High vaccination rates in the area, low mortgage rates, and an easing of travel restrictions for foreign nationals aided in making it a record quarter,” Elizabeth Ann Stribling-Kivlan, the senior managing director at Compass, said. “There is no place like New York.”
Possibly due to the appeal of private amenities and outdoor space, townhouse sales also jumped in Manhattan. Compass reports sales increased by 58.6 percent this quarter, with an average price of $9.23 million. A Q4 report from Coldwell Banker Warburg reported similar findings for both Manhattan and Brooklyn, with an increase by 75 percent in year-over-year sales volume of townhomes in those boroughs, which is a 20 percent jump from 2019.
According to a report from SERHANT., Manhattan’s new development condo market had a balanced level of inventory for the first time since mid-2015. In the fourth quarter, there were 291 new development closings, up by 66 percent from the same time last year, and 459 contracts signed, a jump of nearly 67 percent year-over-year.
Notably, new development homes priced $10 million and over sat the shortest time on the market, listed for just 97 days. Homes listed between $5 and $7 million spent an average of 281 days on the market.
“If there was one word to describe the Manhattan housing market this year, it would have to be phenomenal,” Garrett Derderian, director of market intelligence at SERHANT., said in his report.
While the new Omicron variant and rise of Covid cases may present new challenges for the market in 2022, real estate experts expect the momentum of the fourth quarter to continue into this year.
“Once again, those pundits who predicted the demise of the city turned out to be wrong, as 2021 developed into one of the most robust sales and rental years within memory,” Frederick Warburg Peters, the CEO of Coldwell Banker Warburg, said.
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