Manhattan Real Estate In a World of Its Own
The cover story in yesterday’s real estate section of The Times looks at the astonishing gulf that has formed between Manhattan (along with parts of Brooklyn!) and most of the rest of the country in terms of home sales, inventory and prices. Simply put, Manhattan’s residential market continues to be red hot while the majority of the U.S. struggles with plunging home sales and excess inventory. The article gives plenty of possible reasons for Manhattan’s resilience, including the island’s dearth of subprime loans, greater demand for large apartments, record Wall Street bonuses, increased demand from foreign buyers, a tight rental market leading people to buy, and the city’s job and population growth. The story doesn’t really examine the state of Brooklyn’s market—there’s an aside in one sentence lumping sought-after pockets of Brooklyn with Manhattan—and it’s difficult to assess whether Brooklyn is faring as well as Manhattan. It certainly remains to be seen whether problems with the credit market, rising rates on jumbo loans and diminished Wall Street bonuses will signal an end to the good times in Manhattan (and across the East River). Given the uptick in foreclosure rates in some areas of Brooklyn, it’ll be interesting to see if Brooklyn and Manhattan fortunes continue to be aligned.
The City of Gold [NY Times]
Brooklyn Nowhere Near Top of Foreclosure List [Brownstoner]