The ball in Times Square isn’t the only thing that has dropped in Manhattan! Sellers of Manhattan apartments, condos and co-ops faced tough negotiations in the fourth quarter of 2016 as high inventory gave buyers permission to push back on prices. Reported today by BloombergPursuits, resale property prices dropped the most since 2012.
The median price of previously owned condominiums and co-ops fell 6.3 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier to $900,000, according to a report Wednesday from appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and brokerage Douglas Elliman Real Estate. It was the first annual decline since the beginning of 2015, and the biggest since the third quarter of 2012, when resale prices dropped 8.1 percent.
Brokers all over Manhattan are reporting drops in sales, prices and an increase in inventory and days on the market. It seems as though sellers who are truly motivated are responding to this changing market as buyers are no longer afraid to come to the table with offers as much as 30% below asking.
“We saw buyers acting a lot more aggressively with their bidding,” said Pamela Liebman, chief executive officer of brokerage Corcoran Group, which released its own report Wednesday that showed a decrease in sales for the quarter. “They didn’t hesitate to come in and make low offers. A lot of sellers remained unrealistic throughout the year, and that killed a lot of deals.”
Will the Manhattan market rebound in 2017 or is this just the beginning of a new reality for the city that never sleeps?
