{April 2024} Interesting Crossroad
The NYC real estate market is at an interesting crossroad. On the one hand, we feel a lot of pent-up demand from buyers who have been watching and waiting for rates to go down. Most of our open houses are better attended than last year. More of our own buyer clients are out looking at properties. But on the other hand, buyers are very hesitant to pull the trigger. Since January, I have had 5 contracts that were sent out but didn’t get signed. This is a high mark in my 10 years in real estate: I have never had so many contracts sent out but not signed, consecutively, all because of buyers’ changing their minds. One buyer signed and wired the deposit, only to change his mind the morning after.
Despite their needs for housing, buyers are reacting to the changing trends of rates and the unsettling events around the world. As a result, the rental market is trending even higher. There will come a point where the scale of rent versus buy tilts to the buy side (when rates come down and rents stay high). To me, this paints a picture of opportunities for buyers who can sit with some uncertainties of today.
The Brooklyn market continues to see more activities than Manhattan, because both inventory and prices are lower in Brooklyn. You had better come with guns blazing if you want a multi-family in Bed-Stuy or Clinton Hill or any of the gorgeous Brownstone neighborhoods.
It’s May and graduations are creeping up. I have two proud graduates in my household this year: my older one is graduating from elementary school and my younger one from Kindergarten. Please, can I have some time back?
New Construction
The Upper West Side in Manhattan is a blue-blooded neighborhood with very few new construction condos. It is therefore exciting that we present you with 720 West End Avenue. It will have 130 units, ranging from one- to four-bedrooms, asking 975k to over 11mm. The building was originally built in 1927 and is gut renovated to offer the perfect combination of old charm and modern conveniences.
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.