Contracts signed ticked up for the 4th week in a row and nears 2019/20 levels but remains below Q1 levels for 2021/22. We’ve felt a new energy in the market since mid-January. Weekly new listings (supply) ticked down but remain within typical seasonal ranges. The overall market inventory ticked up, but barely, as overall supply remains somewhat constrained, not from lack of new listings, but from the number of units leaving the market: contracts signed and sellers pulling their apartments off market.
Mortgage Rates Last week refinance demand surged 18% week to week but was still 75% lower than the same week one year ago. Mortgage applications to purchase a home rose 3% for the week and were 37% lower than the same week one year ago. The average loan size on purchase applications increased to $428,500, the largest average since May 2022. Bank rate has the national average for a 30 year fixed at 6.55%.
Luxury Market 25 contracts at $4 million and above were signed last week in Manhattan, 4 fewer than the previous week. Condos outsold coops, 16-5, with 2 condops and 2 townhouses in the mix. It was the second week in a row that the luxury market registered more than 20 contracts. And for the 2nd week in a row only 2 properties cracked the $10-million marks.
Rental Market Median rents in Manhattan hit a record in January, fueled by a strong job market and a tight supply of apartments. Year-over-year, the average rental price for a non-doorman studio increased by 19.1% to $2,905, while the average rental price for a doorman studio increased by 2.3% to $3,660. The average rental price for a non-doorman one-bedroom unit increased by 11.52% to $3,738, while doorman one-bedroom units saw their average rental price increase by 3.49% to $5,109. The average rental price for a non-doorman two-bedroom unit increased by 11.91% to $4,927, while the average rental price for doorman two-bedroom units increased by 8.02% to $7,195. Overall, the average rental price in Manhattan increased by 8.76% from this time last year. As more workers return to the office, more employees may also be moving back to the city
Increase In Listing Traffic There was a super strong 42% uptick in attendance this past weekend, as compared to the weekend of February 5, 2023. The average open house attendance reported across Compass climbed to 4.3 parties per open house, compared to 3.03 per open house the week before. This is the strongest attendance our survey has shown since November 13, 2022, when things started to slow down for the holiday season. We expect things to only get busier as we approach the Spring season.
