Despite the rain, cold and dreary weather open houses were mobbed today on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Buyers are out and buyers are buying. One pre-war 2 bedroom condo priced at $1,399,000 must have had about 40 people when I arrived with my buyers just 15 minutes after it opened.
About 30 people were at the 2 bedroom 2 bath apartments on the third floor of a post-war full service luxury building. One 2 bedroom condo that came on the market the beginning of the week at $1,150,00 that I showed Wednesday evening is already in contract and today's open house was canceled. I was planning on taking my buyer back today to see it during daylight. Too late. There is very little inventory in the $1M to $1.4M range.
What does it mean? Is it the Wall Street bonuses? Have we bottomed? Last weeks sell off in the stock market? Is New York the last market to decline the first to recover? We haven't had many foreclosures or sub-prime mortgages. The collapse of Lehman Brothers was what caused our market to decline. Prices are still down from a year ago but there is sales activity.
I know it's not about tax credits in this price range. Even first-time buyers looking at $1M+ apartments tend to have higher incomes than $125,000 single or $250,000 combined. The $6000 tax credit for current home owners is capped at an $800,000 purchase.
I know there are all kinds of reports and gloomy economic studies. I know we have high unemployment and our national economy is not good. But I also know what I see. I see a lot of people with a lot of money buying real estate in Manhattan.
Mitchell Hall, Associate Broker, The Corcoran Group
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How much is your Manhattan apartment or townhouse worth in today's market?
©Mitchell Hall 2010
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