33 Luxury Manhattan apartments priced at $4 million and up went to contract last week marking the best late June week since records were kept by Olshan Realty. Could this be a turning point in the luxury market as the pipeline begins to dry up. There is still a lot of inventory out there that needs to be absorbed but market conditions in favor of buyers do not usually last long in Manhattan.
Tag Archives: luxury
5000 new apartments coming to the market in new development in 2018
According to the latest reports, about 4600 new condo units will be listed this year in NYC. That is in addition to over 3000 that came online in 2017. Given that new development without an amazing location, is selling slowly that sounds like a lot of choices for buyers and anxiety for developers.
Ziel Feldman is bringing to market $3.4 billion in inventory within two projects. One is the Upper West side conversion of the Belnord with large units over 2000 square feet and another is the twisting condo towers known as XI on the Highline. Both projects come with starchitect pedigrees with Robert A.M. Stern redesigning the Belnord and Bjarke Ingels handling the designing of the new construction Highline condo.
More details on Belnord and XI
Previous luxury market 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.
New developments selling well in the right neighborhoods and for the right price
With approximately 6,000 units of new development in the market throughout NYC, there is an obvious glut. But some developments like 250 W 81st street are raising prices. In the Robert A.M. Stern designed building, the largest units were the first to sell and the buyers are coming from the local market with zero foreign buyers. In addition, the location on Manhattan’s upper west side, has a scarcity of new development.
Most developers believe that within 2-3 years, most of the existing inventory will be gone so now is a good time for them to begin the process knowing full well the market may swing in the favor by the time they are ready to start selling.
22 luxury contracts signed last week in NYC
22 luxury contracts were signed last week at $4 million and above but only 4 of those were signed for new development according to the Olshan report. Transaction volume was down to $160 million from $225 million of the previous week.
Buyers are shopping for value at this point and we are seeing it across all market price points but especially the luxury market.
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.
Soho residential listings selling at 15% discount according to report
According to a recent report, the residential listings in Soho are experiencing price cuts of approximately 10% and usually are chopped another 5% after that. The market like many neighborhoods in Manhattan is a buyer’s market. Seller’s expectations are coming down but as this is happening in Soho, the sellers do not have to sell so the market is at an impasse.
The below table shows the number of active listings by bedroom count in Soho.
| # Bedrooms | Active | Low Price | High Price |
| 1 | 36 | $580,000 | $11,000,000 |
| 2 | 58 | $630,000 | $12,250,000 |
| 3 + | 80 | $1,995,000 | $40,500,000 |
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.
Top Manhattan buildings outperformed stock market over the last decade according to report
According to a recent report by City Realty, buildings such as 15 Central Park west out performed the stock market over the last decade. Buildings with tons of amenities, famous architects(starchitects) and celebrity residents certainly do get lots of attention but are they truly worth the investment? According to the report, the compound annual growth rate at 15 CPW was 6.84% compared to stock market which was -2% and gold which was 3.2%.
Recently, I had a client that sold their Manhattan townhouse for $15 million to an investor. Is this a good investment for the buyer? According to most experienced Manhattan real estate brokers, 2016 was more or less the peak of the ultra luxury market and since then we are in a buyer’s market. There are certainly a fair amount of coverage in the press of buyers who are liquidating investments in ultra luxury, new development buildings that are being sold for less than they paid.
One strategy to increase liquidity, would be to split that investment up to smaller investments. The 2 bedroom/2 bathroom market continues to be a sweet spot as it’s the family sized apartment that is within reach of many buyers. Also, performing really well now is the multi-family market. Would it have made more sense to buy a 1-2 buildings with anywhere from 6-40 units? With professional management, these properties have been performing well and continue to perform well right now as there is a shortage of inventory.
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.
21 luxury contracts were signed last week
Manhattan’s luxury market continues to record strong sales this spring with 21 contracts signed last week for properties at $4mm and above. Roughly half of those contracts were signed for downtown properties.
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.
189 Edgecombe avenue townhouse rented
The 2 family townhouse at 189 Edgecombe avenue has now rented. It has a garden apartment 1 bedroom with washer/dryer and a triplex apartment with 4 bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms. The triplex rented for $6,100 and the garden apartment for $2,200. Both apartments rented within 2 weeks of being listed.
The house underwent a full, gut renovation and restoration which took just over a year to complete.
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.
24 luxury contracts signed last week
24 Luxury contracts were signed last week for property $4mm and above in Manhattan. Discounts drove the action as the average discount from the listing price is over 10%. It’s not unusual that property owners who purchased in the last 3 years are selling at a loss in order to liquidate.
In other reports, rents are still trending down with concessions like free month’s rent and owner paid broker fees fueling activity especially in new developments where 90% of the apartments were rented with concessions. Just under half (44%) of the new leases signed in Manhattan in April included concessions.
Does it make sense for a Manhattan owner to pay the broker fee?
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 market reports as of April 19
According to the latest market reports, the average listing price is down about 10% compared to last year, but 25 contracts over $4 million were signed last week. $849 million dollars of contracts have been signed in the $4million and up segment since the last week of March which is the best start of the Spring market since 2015. What do these seemingly differing numbers mean? The luxury/new development market has been in a buyer’s market for about 2 years now. As a result, the buyer and seller expectations are more inline with each other than lower price points. For the last year or so, new developments have been open to negotiations. Additionally, some projects have been paused or never got off the ground. So the existing inventory is being sold.
This is unlike the below $4 million price market where sellers’ expectations needs to adjust to the current reality and that they will not achieve the same prices that were reached a year ago. Manhattan buyer’s market tend not to last very long.
Broker confidence up according to latest study
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.