The Manhattan real estate market, while less active than the insanely busy Spring, remains very busy, especially for the Summer when things traditionally are slower. Even with the scale back from Spring, this may end up being the busiest Summer in the past decade. While the sub-$3 million market recovered very quickly, many assumed the wealthy would abandon Manhattan. They did not. We have seen possibly the largest volume of $10-million-plus property sales and signed contracts in history in 2021 so far. While pricing has not recovered fully in all areas, we are witnessing bidding wars again, mostly in the rental markets.
New Development Sales Sky Rocket In July, 366 units went into contract, a 94% increase from a year ago and 28% more than in pre-pandemic July 2019. July’s activity was shy of the record levels in April and May. The number of sponsor units purchased in July was down 5% from June’s total of 386 contracts. The 6,302 new-development units in Manhattan at the end of the second quarter represented an 11.5% drop from 2019, a sigh of relief for developers.
Luxury Market Stays Hot Thirty six contracts were signed last week at $4 million and above, an impressive 15 more than the previous week. Condos outsold co-ops 27 to 7, and 2 townhouses were in the mix. Over half of the properties were sold by developers, and not resales. The luxury market has registered 30 or more contracts signed in 25 of the last 27 weeks. And in 17 of the last 27 weeks, the top 2 contracts have been Penthouse apartments. This weeks top contract was a Compass listing, PH60/61, at 56 Leonard, asking $49.995M.
Bidding Wars Erupt For Renters Usually reserved for purchases, bidding wars are becoming common in the rental market for prime properties. The demand for apartment and single family rentals is surging and out pacing supply. In July, rents nationally rose 7% year over year for one-bedroom apartments and 8.7% for two-bedroom apartments. That is up from 5% and 6.5% annual gains in June, according to Zumper, a national rental listing platform. We’re seeing multiple bid scenarios and tenants submitting multiple offers on different properties out of fear of losing out. According to OLR there were 20,653 apartments on the market in August of 2020 and 8,814 in August of 2021.
