July 2021 Manhattan property update by Weimin Tan
Posted by Wei Min Tan on July 15, 2021
7-minute July update on Manhattan property market presented by top Manhattan property agent, Wei Min Tan.
The Manhattan, New York residential property market is recovering from Covid and currently, it’s a seller’s market. This is driven by low mortgage rates, lowered pricing from the pandemic, pent up demand from 2020 and overall optimism from the reopening of New York as 70 percent of New Yorkers have been vaccinated.
Manhattan Condos Q2’2021
As of Q2’2021, average price per sqft for a Manhattan condo was $1,921, a 12 percent increase vs Q1’2021. Sales volume in Q2 was up 48.8 percent vs Q1 and a whopping 162.3 percent vs prior year. Months of supply decreased to 7.3 months, which is below the historical average.
Average price of a condo in Q2 was $2.64 million while median price was $1.65 million.
Listing discount vs time on market
Data from Urbandigs shows that properties that are priced well are entering contracts in under a month. The Covid discount was between 7 to 9 percent in Q1 but has decreased to between 3 to 5 percent in Q2 because the market is recovering.
Pending Sales
The bottom of the Covid market was between May to July 2020. Since then, pending sales, referring to contracts in pipeline waiting to close, has been increasing every week. We experienced record number of weeks with 300+ contracts signed. Q2’2021 overall condo/coop sales volume was up 152 percent while months of supply was at 6.9 months, below the 20-year historical average.
Active supply
Inventory in Q2 at 7,880 apartments for sale for the total condo/coop market is 9 percent higher than in Q1. This is a welcome relief for buyers but still low by historical levels. Since November 2020, the market has been picking up and now we’re in a seller’s market. Shortage of supply is the issue and demand is exceedingly strong, driven by record low mortgage rates, pent up demand from 2020 and optimism from the Covid vaccines.
We are in the beginning of the next up cycle. From history, up cycles usually last about 7 years. Sales volume is very high and sellers have the advantage because there is a lot more demand than supply. The bottom is over, it was last year.
Goldman Sachs expects 2021 GDP growth at 6.6 percent driven by reopening of businesses, pent up consumer demand and the fiscal package boosting consumer and infrastructure spending. According to GS, the economy has shown tremendous resilience during Covid and we are at the nascent stages of the next economic expansion.
What We Do
We focus on global investors buying Manhattan condos for portfolio diversification and long term return-on-investment.
1) Identify the right buy based on objectives
2) Manage the buy process
3) Rent out the property
4) Manage tenants
5) Market the property at the eventual sale
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