As Condo Sales Languish, Builders Slam 421-a Reform
The Sun has a couple of articles this morning that, taken together, seem slightly contradictory. First off, Mike Stoler writes about how condo sales at many new Brooklyn developments have seen better days. (AKA condo glut.) Developers say that many for-sale condos in Downtown, Dumbo and the Burg are seeing price cuts of 15 to…
The Sun has a couple of articles this morning that, taken together, seem slightly contradictory. First off, Mike Stoler writes about how condo sales at many new Brooklyn developments have seen better days. (AKA condo glut.) Developers say that many for-sale condos in Downtown, Dumbo and the Burg are seeing price cuts of 15 to 20 percent and that many Brooklyn builders are considering turning their projects rental. One unsourced industry leader has this to say: There has been massive overbuilding in the entire borough of Brooklyn. It is like the Wild West, and if you don’t control growth, then at some point it’s going to get out of hand.” The other story in the paper is about how developers are psyched that in December the City Council is going to review the changes to the 421-a program, which, effective in July, requires that projects in many sections of the city (including the Slope, Prospect Heights, and Bushwick) include 20 percent affordable housing in order to get 421-a tax abatements. In other words, while sales are at a standstill at many developments (a whole lot of which benefited from 421-a), developers want 421-a tax breaks reinstated in order to incentivize the construction of more market-rate housing. Yes, 421-a repeal would mean cost-savings for buyers in the future, but right now those buyers aren’t keen on plunking down money for all the condos we already have. So the question is, does is make sense to incentivize the creation of new housing at a time when the existing pipeline isn’t being absorbed? Or is there still plenty of need and demand for new housing, just not at these prices?
The Divide Between Manhattan, Other Boroughs [NY Sun]
Tax Abatement Debate To Be Revived [NY Sun]
“In the past week, we’ve seen a house get bid 250K over ask and a house that sold last year for 3.2 million sold last week for 3.6 million.”
But will it get funded? Credit markets are getting slammed!
There are too many condos. plus you are paying nose bleed prices for them. Methinks asshats are about to get shafted!!! But remember “Real Estate always goes up”. LMMFAO the shit is imploding!!
The What
Someday this war is gonna end…
By the time prices have fallen enough for anyone to notice, they will be going back up.
If construction halts and more buildings go rental…know what that means???
Less supply.
Know what less supply means?
Yup. Higher demand and prices.
The Argyle in Park Slope is already 50% sold out.
Apparently the prime areas are still doing great.
10:57 – you may be able to grin eventually but 11:00 is right (and your not) – prices will have to continue to fall for awhile before they get below 2 years ago pricing.
I’d be happy to be wrong but I’d like you to show me a single condo or 2 comparable condos where the price today is the same or less than it was 2 years ago.
Not saying it wont or cant happen but we got awhile yet before that happens.
Hey 11:03–you come on this board with that smug attitude and what do you expect?
my neighbor bought her 1 bedroom in prospect heights last year for 275k and had to move to california for work and sold it 2 weeks ago for 387k.
not making that kinda money in your ing account, 10:57. what’s the interest rate now…3%?
You don’t need an MBA from Harvard to tell them what anybody on the street can see: too many condos! People have been predicting this glut, even on this blog, for years.
The cheerleaders keep saying there are plenty of people streaming to NYC, willing to pay big bucks to live here, because just EVERYONE wil have a lucrative financial sector job. The creation of thousands of new lux condos will mean more housing for those of lesser means, as everyone moves up the ladder, freeing up space. Well, they forgot to calculate a few things:
Not everyone wants a condo. Condos, by in large, are marketed for the young professionl. Most condos give you the design choice of modern, minimal, and stark. This is not everyone’s taste, and changing it costs big bucks.
Many new condo buildings are not family oriented, either in size of apartments, or amenities therein. This means many families choose other types of living situations, not new condo buildings.
Most of them seem to be too expensive for what you are getting. So-so workmanship, forgetable building, plonked down in a neighborhood, but not really part of it. Especially true for a building like the Mynt in Bed Stuy, but also the ones on 4th Ave, and even Meier’s glass tower on the Park, perhaps a better design, but certainly not relating to anything in Prospect Heights. Where is the community?
Granite countertops and Sub Zero’s are getting old. Since they are now everywhere, they no longer have much cachet. A fancy kitchen, or bath, is not going to sell an apartment anymore. Not when you have so many choices, as there are sooooo many apartments.
I think many of these buildings are going to have to go to rental to recoup some income. up until condos became so hot, not all that long ago, this has been a city of renters, from Park Avenue to the Bowery. Perhaps it is just part of the cycle, and we are going around again. Being a renter was never a stigma or a negative. People will always need a place to live. Buying is not an option for many, at least not now. Maybe that will open up apartments for middle income people, if only a little bit, although I don’t think the condo spillover will make much of a difference to that market, sadly.
Don’t live in the ghetto. But apparently you are planning on it.
Only place where prices are negotiable at this point are fringe areas.
I see prices in Park Slope continuing to rise at quite healthy rates.
In the past week, we’ve seen a house get bid 250K over ask and a house that sold last year for 3.2 million sold last week for 3.6 million.
Keep waiting sucker.
11:00
But if we were to buy what we could afford 2 years ago, we could get the same or better for FAR less.
I’m smart. I know my budget, savings and what I can afford.
Glad the place you bought in the ghetto 2 years ago went up 50%. Thats atypical.