New York City’s residential market came back to life in May after an April slump prompted by the impending failure of First Republic Bank. New signed contracts rose significantly last month, with pending sales (demand) eclipsing new listings (supply) hitting the market. While some buyers remain on the sidelines in hopes of prices and interest rates coming down, others keep pushing forward. Keep in mind, over 55% of homes purchased in Manhattan are all cash purchases, making these buyers much less impacted by the sharply higher rates that are still on the lower side historically.
Signed Contracts In Manhattan, signed contracts jumped 22% compared to April, increasing for the third time in four months. New listings dipped for the first time this year, down 10% from April. Brooklyn also reported notable growth in contract activity, with new signed contracts up from April by nearly 50%. New listings dropped for the first time in three months, down 4% month-over-month. New contract signings in Manhattan declined by 28% year-over-year last month, from 1254 to 907. New listings dropped from 1944 to 1553 over the same period, a 20% annual decrease. In Brooklyn, new contract signings decreased by 14% year-over-year, dropping from 641 to 549. New listings declined 25% annually, down from 1107 in May 2022 to 826 last month.
Mortgage Rates Mortgage rates dropped this week after a three-week climb, as rates remain volatile amid conflicting economic indicators. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.71% in the week ending June 8, down from 6.79% the week before, according to data from Freddie Mac released Thursday. A year ago, the 30-year fixed rate was 5.23%. Mortgage rates topped 5% for the first time since 2011 a little more than a year ago and have remained over 5% for all but one week during the past year. Since then they have gone as high as 7.08%, last reached in November. Since mid-March, rates have gone up and down but stayed under 6.5% until last week.
Luxury Market 32 contracts were signed last week in Manhattan at $4 million and above, the same as the previous week. Condos outsold co-ops 21-11. It was the largest number of co-op sales since the week of April 25 2022, when 13 co-ops were signed. The average days on the market for a co-op last week was 306. The average co-op price was reduced by 10% before a contract was signed. Consistent with the data for the rest of the market.
Rental Market Manhattan rents have hit new record highs. Even with 7,538 units on the market in May, a 69% increase compared to 2022, we saw the year over year average rental price in Manhattan increase by 7% to $5,649. In Brooklyn we saw a 40% increase in inventory to 1,943 units, and a 13% increase in price to $4,293.
