All posts by Brian Silvestry

I have been in the real estate industry first as a licensed agent and as a broker since 1999. I have sold in every Manhattan neighborhood though do work a lot on the Upper west side where I live and upper Manhattan. I speak French,Portuguese, and Spanish.

Harlem October Townhouse Market report

In the month of October there were 5 sales and 10 new listings. This is a dip from the last month when there were 20 new listings and almost no sales. The most expensive sale of the month was 123 W 120th street which a 4 family 20′ wide sold for $3.25 million down from it’s asking price of $3.75 million.

79 Harlem townhouse listings are available for sale and for the first time the under $2 million price range is seeing an increase. Last month there were only 5 listings under $2 mm and now there are 9 listings in that price range.

< $2 million 9
$2-$2.99million 38
$3.0-$3.99 million 23
> $4 million 9

134 days on the market is average for all Harlem townhouses. The number of months to absorb all of the inventory is 16 currently.

Harlem townhouse September report

Harlem townhouse August market report

The Author-  Brian Silvestry , a licensed real estate broker, has been selling residential and commercial real estate since 1999. He has sold in every neighborhood from Battery Park City to Washington Heights.

18 Harlem townhouse open houses set for Marathon Sunday

18 Harlem townhouses will be holding open houses tomorrow on Marathon Sunday with the hopes that not everyone will be looking for the best place to see one of the 50,000 or so runners tomorrow.

Prices range from $2,250,000 for an intact 3 family home to just north of $5mm so there seems to be an offering for all ranges.

Sunday November 4th Open houses

The Author-  Brian Silvestry , a licensed real estate broker, has been selling residential and commercial real estate since 1999. He has sold in every neighborhood from Battery Park City to Washington Heights.

 

Why do some Manhattan buildings have so few units for sale?

I always find it interesting to see that in some Manhattan buildings that are very few apartments for sale. In 400 Central Park west, a 414 unit condominium there are 6 apartments for sale, and 2 of those are in contract. So out of 414 units, there are 4 units available for sale or less than 1% of the building.

Contrast that with 120 Riverside boulevard, which has 23 units for sale with only 2 of those in contract. The 14 year old building has 276 units and many amenities. But taxes for a 1292 sqft 2bd/2ba run around $21,000 per year. Perhaps, this is the clearest example of the effect of the Tax Reform? Either way, with nearly 8% of the building for sale, it might create a pause in a buyer looking to purchase.

The Author-  Brian Silvestry , a licensed real estate broker, has been selling residential and commercial real estate since 1999. He has sold in every neighborhood from Battery Park City to Washington Heights.

 

372 Central Park west 17U sold and closed

A studio apartment was sold in the 372 Central Park west condo, a full service building with concierge, gym, laundry, parking and storage. The asking price for the south facing estate condition apartment was $799,000 and we were able to negotiate the price down to $740,000 for our client, an investor. It’s rare to find a high floor studio, facing south in the Vaux condominium.

Current availability in the condo located at the corner of West 97th street and Central Park west, includes 4 apartments for sale and 3 apartments for rent.

Previous coverage

The Author-  Brian Silvestry , a licensed real estate broker, has been selling residential and commercial real estate since 1999. He has sold in every neighborhood from Battery Park City to Washington Heights.

 

Waterline Square construction update

Waterline square the 3 building development on the West side from the exterior looks to be finished. The buildings are designed by the starchitects Rafael Vinoly, Kohn Pedersen Fox and Richard Meier.

Prices start at just over $1.8 million for 1 bedrooms with occupancy expected in Spring of 2019.

Previous coverage of Waterline Square

Available properties in Waterline Square

The Author-  Brian Silvestry , a licensed real estate broker, has been selling residential and commercial real estate since 1999. He has sold in every neighborhood from Battery Park City to Washington Heights.

 

33 townhouse Open houses today in Harlem

In the Hamilton Heights, Central Harlem, market there are 33 open houses set for today. As listings linger on the market and sellers start to come to grips with the idea that the market is in favor of the buyers, some listings sit on the market. As a result, the amount of open houses is at a staggering number. However, the market under $2.5 million is still low on inventory as only 4 of the 33 open houses are for that price point and only 1 open house for a listing under $2 million. The inventory under $2 million has not budged at all in the last several months and the choices are limited.

Harlem townhouse Open house list for Sunday

Harlem townhouse September market report

The Author-  Brian Silvestry , a licensed real estate broker, has been selling residential and commercial real estate since 1999. He has sold in every neighborhood from Battery Park City to Washington Heights.

Manhattan rental prices starting to increase

The Manhattan median rental price inched up 1.8% to $3,394 according to the latest report while the luxury rents stayed static at $8,194. According to the broker feedback there is a lot of inventory to absorbed into the market and concessions and price still drive the Manhattan rental market. While buyers are staying on the sidelines, you would think that rents were begin to increase but while lease activity in September has increased market wide we have to enter into a new cycle of rent increases. There is so much parity in the market in terms of choices and Manhattan has competition from both Queens and Brooklyn in terms of offerings and types of buildings.

TRD coverage

Harlem townhouse market price adjustments

Just two months ago, the Harlem townhouse market report showed 17 listings at $4 million and above. Now as of September 30th, that number has halved to 8. Those listings did not sell as only 4 listings over $4 million have sold this year in the Harlem,Hamilton Heights townhouse market. Either they reduced the price and joined the under $4 million club or they gave up.

In the last 2 months, the number of listings available from $3 million to $3.99 million, has increased from 26 to 31. The number of listings from $2 million to $2.99 million has increased in the same time period from 33 to 40. These numbers tend to support the trend that price reductions are forcing sellers to readjust their expectations.

However, the market segment least affected is the below $2 million which currently has 5 available listings while the May Harlem townhouse report showed 7. This suggests that inventory is still very tight in the <$2 million/starter townhouse range.

The Author-  Brian Silvestry , a licensed real estate broker, has been selling residential and commercial real estate since 1999. He has sold in every neighborhood from Battery Park City to Washington Heights.

730 Saint Nicholas ave back in the market after community stops drug treatment center conversion

730 St Nicholas ave, located in the Hamilton Heights/Sugar Hill historic district was previously in the news as it was going to be converted to a drug treatment center. The Community mobilized and was able to stop the conversion of the historic home and as a result, the owner has put the property back in the market for roughly $1 million more than the 2017 purchase price.

If sold at their asking price, it would break the record for most expensive Harlem townhouse. However, sales are very slow at this price point in Harlem so a sale may be hard to come by.

The Author-  Brian Silvestry , a licensed real estate broker, has been selling residential and commercial real estate since 1999. He has sold in every neighborhood from Battery Park City to Washington Heights.

 

Harlem townhouse September market report

During the months of June, July and August, 16 new Harlem townhouse listings came on the market combined. Apparently, the summer lull is over, as 20 new Harlem townhouse listings came on the market in September.

The least expensive listing was $1.399 million for a Convent avenue building sold without interior access. The most expensive townhouse offering was a property that sold a year ago and now is back on the market for $5.25 million at 730 St Nicholas.

While, 20 townhouses were listed for sale, only 1 was sold during the month of September. The property an SRO with over $40,000 in annual taxes is a 19′ wide, 5 story building near Striver’s Row. It transferred for $2.4 million.  The below table shows the breakdown of the new listings by price range.

< $2 million 5
$2-$2.99 million 40
$3-3.99 million 31
> $4 million 8
Total 84

The average days on the market has increased to 122 days. Today, Sunday, September 30th, there are 34 open houses scheduled.

August Harlem townhouse market

Harlem townhouse July market report

 

The Author-  Brian Silvestry , a licensed real estate broker, has been selling residential and commercial real estate since 1999. He has sold in every neighborhood from Battery Park City to Washington Heights.