Manhattan Market Frozen
The news from across the East River ain’t good: Prices and sales volume are both down, and it’s taking a lot longer for apartments to sell; inventory is up 34 percent over last year. That’s the bottom line of the First Quarter Report from Douglas Elliman and Halstead released this morning. The number of co-op…
The news from across the East River ain’t good: Prices and sales volume are both down, and it’s taking a lot longer for apartments to sell; inventory is up 34 percent over last year. That’s the bottom line of the First Quarter Report from Douglas Elliman and Halstead released this morning. The number of co-op and condo closings fell 58 percent year-over-year and prices dropped 11 percent. (Co-op prices fared worse than condos, though that was likely skewed by fewer eight-figure co-op deals; in fact, the number of $10 million deals fell 87 percent.) Consumer confidence is the killer, said Dottie Herman, president of the Prudential Douglas Elliman brokerage firm. People are scared. They have never seen anything like this. Corcoran head Pam Liebman predicted that prices will fall further as sales volume picks up, which is good—it’s the only way for the market to find its bottom. How do you think the Brooklyn market is faring compared to this?
Apartments Sell for Less if They Are Sold at All [NY Times]
Crisis Hits Home: Manhattan Massacre [NY Post]
Photo by Rob Young
Most people aren’t quite so flexible about just picking up and moving to a new city in a different part of the country. If you’re young, single and looking for a job, maybe. If you’re half of a couple and both of you work, or if you’ve got kids in school, it becomes another story altogether. People don’t want to pick up and leave their extended family and friends behind.
That said, of course smaller cities will continue to grow at a faster rate. The population of Portland has grown more than 100% since I was born. In the same timeline (1970 to 2009), New York has barely grown 1%. New York has a finite island-based land mass and has had an official housing shortage since 1974.
Yes, real estate prices are going to drop. But New York always bounces back eventually.
Re: Portland. I have friends there who say that it is fantastic, in many of the ways you all say–but also that it’s full of white-collar transplants (from CA, etc.) working in low-level retail jobs because there just isn’t the commercial infrastructure to support them.
Portland may be “cheaper” if you have a job, but you can’t just assume that someone could transport their NYC job and salary there, nor find the equivalent.
Phoenix is the Kidnapping capital of the USA. It’s also very affordable you guys should move there it’s sunny.
tybur6 – it seems in your daily posts like you really don’t have a great deal of affection for NYC, (at least the high cost of living here), and you’re obviously skeptical about the long term viability of NYC. Just curious, are you living in the city and if so, why?
tybur6 – Just wanted to say that I’m loving your commentary today. I think you’re spot on, and the real growth will be in the smaller cities. They are more affordable points of entry with blanker infrastructure slates upon which to improve.
I’m not that stupid of an Asshat, What.
I would mostly agree with 11217…
Although, I would add the following: it’s easy to try and analyze and compare to death things like city amenities/arts/attractions, prime locations, aspects of cost living, etc…but the fact is, cities are never directly comparable in that sense – sure, it might cost me more to live my life in Brooklyn than it would in Portland (which is an amazing city in its own right), but for me the history, people, architecture and general atmosphere of NY trump most other monetary considerations (and I make a very modest salary, believe me). Not saying NYC is the be-all-end-all, but it’s simply the place I want to be.
So, all I’m really saying is that you can’t always graft a price or practical justification onto why you choose to live in a certain place…sometimes it’s just home.
You’re right Tyburg. The 3 or 4 times I’ve been to Portland, I stayed right in the Pearl District, and actually went to go look at quite a number of lofts for sale there to get an idea of what I could afford. I really do love the Pearl District…there are so many amazing neighborhood in Portland actually.
As I mentioned though…this last time around…I was carrying around this Brooklyn bag and bartenders, waiters, randoms on the street would stop me and start up a conversation because of that bag. Their love of Brooklyn was palpable. It obviously has to do with the circles I run in…musicians, artists, etc…they all hear about Brooklyn as the be all end all in many respects. I got a lot of advice about Portland, and the people there really do seem to like it, but the most popular phrase I got with reference to my love of Portland was “wanna trade places?”
For better or for worse, I came back to NYC realizing what a great thing I’ve got going here.
“Hey What…i found Eubie Blakes address. right across the street from Solomon’s Porch. I found a copy of a letter to him online and I’m going to give it to the Porch.”
I’m willing to bet you did not know who Eubie Black was before yesterday!
The What
Someday this war is gonna end…