Talk about complete silence…high-value real estate deals plummeted in New York City once the implementation of the City’s increased mansion and transfer taxes went into effect in July 1 of this year. Those two taxes essentially raised the cost of buying a top tier home in NYC (+$10M) more than $2M.
That nearly month-long silence has now been broken, according to the latest report from Olshan Realty. By the week ending September 1 2019, 16 contracts were signed for+$4M, Olshan’s benchmark for luxury properties.
The total value of contracts signed in the last week of August 2019 came in at $118.39M. This $118.39M is considered to be a “standard-issue total for the week leading into Labor Day,” according to Donna Olshan, president of Olshan Realty and author of this latest report.
Of the 16 contracts signed during the last week of August, 13 were for condominiums, two were for co-ops and there were no deals for townhouses. Up until the two weeks before the last week in August, townhouse sales had accounted for all of the highest priced sales since June 2019, prior to the mansion and transfer taxes going into effect.
Though real estate professionals were ecstatic about the 16 high-ticket sales during the last week in August, remember that the two weeks prior to July 1, the two weeks prior to the increases in transfer and mansion taxes becoming reality, sales of luxury properties in NYC jumped to $285M and then $225M in each respective week.
As in every other realm of life, ecstasy is relative.
Thanks to Mansion Global’s Liz Lucking for source data.
