{June 2021} Prices Move Higher
Last Friday around 7pm, as I was about to start our weekly movie night with the kids, a shutoff valve in our AC closet broke off and 200-pound pressurized water surged into our apartment and submerged it under angle-deep water in minutes. What ensued was a few head-spinning days of getting a hotel, realizing that everything had to be moved/stored away and the floors had to be replaced and accepting that we were going to be camped out for the whole summer. My family lived through a true moment of “life happens”. I’m grateful for the support of my family, friends and neighbors, which allows me to sit here today and write this monthly memo calmly.
The New York real estate market continues its strong pace in June. By now we have had 4 months of very high demand (~50% more volume than that of a usual busy month). On the supply side, listings are going on the market at the usual pace. Pricewise, we are also seeing prices recover. The pandemic discount of 5-10% is long gone. Manhattan’s latest $/sqft (1363) is now firmly higher than the median $/sqft for 2019 (1310). As we head into the holiday weekend, we wish all our readers a wonderful 4th of July!!
How much is NYC back to normal? 50%? 70%? 90%? Booking on the restaurant reservations platform Resy in New York City in June was five times the number in January. During the last week in June, the volume of diners reached 90% of what it was during the same week in 2019. Details here.
The NYC real estate market was the tale of two cities in October. Total transaction volume ticked higher, even though rates moved higher and sentiment was tense. Most of our new clients were understandably quiet. But quite a few of our repeat clients, the real estate veterans, were busy putting deals together.