The State of the Market

One of the constants about the Manhattan residential market is its seasonality. Certain types of apartments sell better as the weather warms than they do in the middle of the winter. Studio and one bedroom activity increases, particularly downtown, as students graduate from college and need to get established for their new jobs. Outer lying areas (avenues near the East River or Hudson River) can benefit from better weather because they seem more accessible to buyers.

The chart below is a snap shot of all Coops and Condos available in Manhattan as of February 10, 2010.



The overall numbers here have been consistent for the past month with new apartments on the market somewhat being balanced by signed contracts. We continue to carefully monitor the status of signed contracts as an indication of the degree of difficulty in getting residential mortgages. The past 12 months have shown this to be by far the single biggest challenge facing sellers today. The discrepancy between the number of studios and one bedrooms available can be partially explained by first time buyer activity. The price decreases in this area have made this part of the market affordable for buyers who have been priced out for the past several years. Another important factor is that new Condo construction usually consists of one bedrooms and larger sized apartments and rarely includes studios.

We've included the 2 charts below to show that the number of apartments built before World War II continues to lag behind modern construction.