Home Sales in November Fell at Faster Pace Than Expected
The median price of a home plunged 13 percent from October to November, to $181,300 from $208,000 a year ago. That was the lowest price since February 2004.They’re about as god-awful as they can get,†said Robert Barbera, chief economist at ITG. “This is pretty breathtaking stuff.â€
The median price of a home plunged 13 percent from October to November, to $181,300 from $208,000 a year ago. That was the lowest price since February 2004.They’re about as god-awful as they can get,†said Robert Barbera, chief economist at ITG. “This is pretty breathtaking stuff.â€
theandrewlee, perhaps you’re looking in an area where properties are still moving well? I am looking in Bushwick, where there are lots of short sales and foreclosures.
My recommendation: Compare closing prices in a quarter or over several quarters. See if there is a discount and how much. Offer current closing price minus whatever discount applies to the period in which you would be closing.
Also, prices will probably come down a bit more between Jan and March, then go up again in the spring.
Good luck to you.
“Sellers expect offers 10 to 15 percent off list, and I have had at least three real estate agents run after me when we weren’t interested in a property and disclose that the sellers (often the bank) are willing to take almost 20 percent off list. (For example, a house listed at $520,000 would really be $430,000.)”
I have been using free services to find comparable sold properties. And the list prices are usually in the same range (perhaps slightly higher) as some of the recent (late 2008) comparable closing prices.
Before the housing market went South, we had made an offer on one or two homes, and always lost out. We always offered slightly lower than list.
Is it true that sellers now expect 15% off list? I guess my question is how does someone approach that?
This is all good, specific information. I have found that you can’t usually go by list price. Sellers expect offers 10 to 15 percent off list, and I have had at least three real estate agents run after me when we weren’t interested in a property and disclose that the sellers (often the bank) are willing to take almost 20 percent off list. (For example, a house listed at $520,000 would really be $430,000.)
At least where I am, list prices online haven’t budged since Nov. 2007. That’s when the properties first came on the market, and amusingly (perhaps not amusing to the sellers), new properties are priced accordingly. As far as I can see the new sellers seem unaware of the price chopping situation. Possibly they are going by the listed prices they see, rather than the closing prices on file.
I’m been “monitoring” pretty much every coop 1 BR to hit the slope/pheights market over the past 6 months and I can’t tell a difference from then to now in pricing. There are also very few coops coming up. Those that are reasonable are selling, perhaps more slowly, but selling. 2009 could be different…
From what I’ve seen, Crown Heights has fallen just slightly, maybe 5%.
Brownstone (868 Lincoln @ Nostrand). Listed at 799k, fell to 750k. Broker called to notify of price drop. Not sold. Love to buy if it fell to something reasonable.
2 Family (Union btw Rogers and Nostrand). Relisted at 700k, with a price drop from 740k or so.
Brownstone (1240 Carroll near Nostrand). Listed at 638k. Read that it was in contract, but the original listing was at 680k I think.
Condo on St. Marks near Franklin. Broker called offering price reductions up to 50k.
Condos on Washington Ave (PH/CH border) have all had significant price cuts, if not on the listings, then the seller says they are open to negotiation.
…
Outside the city, affordable suburbs I have looked at have fallen like 10-15%. E.g., Maplewood, Orange, Pleasantville.
We’ll see what happens next year.
Last time I checked, Brooklyn had not succeeded from the Union and was still counted in assessments of the national housing market.
I am so glad sjtmd has brought the decline of the national housing market to the attention of the readers of this site. We had no idea. Thanks to you, we can now adjust our investments, financial planning and home shopping accordingly. Wow, and to think that, until today, we were all so blind as to what is going on out there.
Honestly, apart from the fact that this forum isn’t really the place for a generalized economic discussion, if you are going to try to start a discussion, at least have something interesting to say at the outset.
No doubt prices are falling in Manhattan and prime Brooklyn, but as noted many, many times before, foreclosures and distressed properties are relatively rare in these areas.
The large drop in prices in this article seems directly tied to the high number of foreclosures sold. Not saying there’s any good news for sellers out there, just that the magnitude of the bad news isn’t clear from these statistics.
As for what prices may drop to in prime NYC areas, it’s anyone’s guess. From my (admittedly low) vantage point, I can’t see the bottom yet. That is painful to me as someone who sold and bought at the top of the market. My only consolation is that if we’d kept our cash in the stock market we’d have already lost 45% of our nut…basically, if we fall to 2003 prices I’ll be right back where we started when we bought our previous apt. on the UWS. So be it.
mopar – I haven’t done the percentages, but I am noticing more price chops, more units selling below ask, and selling further below ask, and and so on. Personally, I think the downturn has only just begun here. Your mileage may vary.