Manhattan Housing Market: Back With a Vengeance
While the nation’s housing market is getting whacked by slowing sales, bad credit mortgage problems, falling prices and rising inventories, several experts say New York City’s market is on a tear again.
The facts bear this out.
About two weeks ago, a couple who owned a two-bedroom Manhattan apartment at 400 E. 51st St. put it up for sale at $1.599 million, which was around the going listing price in the building for that size apartment.
They quickly got four offers, three at the asking price.
The apartment sold a few days ago, for $1.65 million.
The mortgage broker who represented the seller explained the higher price by saying simply that “Bidding wars are back. This business has never been better, nothing decent stays on the market too long, and there isn’t a bad housing area in Manhattan.”
The broker credited much of the strong sales to this year’s record Wall Street bonuses (an estimated $24 billion) and the fact that, unlike in years past, many retirees are in no rush to live elsewhere.
The agent who sold the East Side apartment Mayor Giuliani occupied when he was separated from his wife compared the current vigor of the Manhattan housing market with the boom years of 2004-2005, when prices surged 19-22 percent.
“We’re back in boom times,” Reimer said, noting that the prices of apartments she’s selling are up about 20 percent from last year.
A year ago, she said, the bulk of her sales ranged between about $700,000 and $2 million; now it’s between $1-3 million - a hefty New York mortgage sum, but not one people aren’t willing to shell out.
Another broker, Vicki Gershwin of Brown Harris Stevens, echoed this sunny assessment. “Housing is crazy right now; it’s on fire,” she said.
“Even the dogs are being snapped up. Demand is exceptionally strong and making matters worse, there’s practically no inventory around.”
Ms. Gershwin estimated apartment prices are up between 6-10 percent versus a year ago. She also noted that bidding wars are back, and added that any broker who has an exclusive listing is being bombarded by other mortgage brokers and real estate agents seeking to show it.
The most noteworthy trend, she said, is the increasing demand for larger apartments, notably four bedrooms and up.
“We’re seeing a very high level of volume” across-the-board, the president of real estate appraiser Miller Samuel, Jonathan Miller, said, estimating that 2007 prices would be up 5-10 percent versus the same period a year ago.
Pointing to fairly flat inventories, Miller figures the current sales pace has the makings of a record spring season - something not seen too many places in the U.S., particularly the Northeast.
Everything is coming together for the industry, he said, pointing to a solid economy; another likely strong year of Wall Street bonuses; a weak dollar that is spurring foreign demand, and low mortgage rates.
SOURCE: New York Sun