Toll Even More Serious Than We Thought About Price Cuts
It seems that the price cutting situation at Northside Piers in Williamsburg is more widespread than we or Curbed thought. A tipster points out that some of the higher-priced units actually got huge price cuts but didn’t show up on StreetEasy with a down-arrow next to them. To wit: Penthouse 2 was massacred from $2,019,990…
It seems that the price cutting situation at Northside Piers in Williamsburg is more widespread than we or Curbed thought. A tipster points out that some of the higher-priced units actually got huge price cuts but didn’t show up on StreetEasy with a down-arrow next to them. To wit: Penthouse 2 was massacred from $2,019,990 to $1,274,990; PH3 from $2,111,990 to $1,350,990; PH5 from $1,680,990 to $1,095,990. Holy crap. What will the ripple effect be? GMAP
I think Santa sums up the prospective $1.2 million Williamsburg condo buyer well.
Back in the day, when all those studio and one-bedroom condos went up around Maccaren Park, they were actually quite a bit cheaper than most things in Brooklyn at the time, even though prices were in the mid-400s for a fake loft (glorified studio). I used to wonder who on earth was buying these things. Certainly not families looking for a deal nor Wall Streeters looking for “luxury” and an easy commute on the glorious G train. Then I finally figured it out: The trustafarian NYU students and Euro grads.
But these condos are a different deal altogether. I find their appeal dubious, but who knows — if buildings like these have succeeded in Dumbo and Long Island City, why not here?
Another factor not to be discounted is the Williamsburg right now has the best concentration of retail, restaurants, and services *for the money* in the whole city. It’s a very big foodie place and a very big fashion place. Oh, and let’s not forget the nightlife catering to those Santa mentions above.
> “But wouldn’t you say, northslope, that the market for the two kinds of homes is vastly different?”
I like both, so put me in northsloperenter’s camp.
But wouldn’t you say, northslope, that the market for the two kinds of homes is vastly different? Those looking for brownstones are looking for things that will not be found at any price in a new condo, and the opposite, as well. Very few people could switch at will from one to the other, with price as the main consideration for a choice. Therefore, what goes on in the condo market may affect condo sales in brownstones, but not neccessarily the sales figures of brownstones as single or 2-4 family houses.
northsloperenter, I think you just described my wife and I (and a couple of other folks I know).
I don’t think condo prices/carrying costs have come enough to dissuade someone like me, who has a moderate preference for a brownstone-like place, but I can imagine a scenario where the scales are more even. Now if brownstones get even half the haircut these condos are getting, I might have to leave Team Groundhog (you know, those of us who have no earthly idea what the market it going to do and are staring and our own shadows and wondering whether to venture out or dive back in for awhile) and pull the trigger.
“Maybe I’m just overly cynical today, but I don’t see how this affects anything other than the superduper Wmsburg condo market.”
The thing is, there are plenty of people in the market who will consider both shiny new condos and gritty old brownstones.
Not everyone will consider both, and sometimes those people have trouble understanding how the people who are willing to consider both drive the market.
But it *is* those people who consider both who drive the market.
This is because they are the ones who decide what premium the shiny condos will sell at v. the gritty brownstones. And if they decide gritty brownstones should be 20% less than shiny condos, then the market will stabilize with condos at $1,000 psf and brownstones at $800 psf.
But if they then decide the condos should only be $800 psf, then the brownstones will be driven down to $640 psf.
The change won’t happen immediately because the market is inefficient, but it will happen eventually.
I am generally quite bearish, but just as sales of $3 million homes in closed religious neighborhoods isn’t really evidence that everything is OK, I am not sure that price cuts in Williamsburg means all that much to the larger market. Williamsburg was obviusly going to be in severe trouble with that huge ratio of new development to existing high end homes. Most of “brownstone” Brooklyn’s hopes to avoid the downturn rests in the idea that there just won’t be that much supply up for grabs before we hit the turnaround in a few years. I think that those who believe this to be the case underestimate the ordinary need for turnover due to life forces. But any area with big built in supply from new developments is going to feel the pinch quicker and deeper.
In my idle perusing of new listings, I somehow “wish away” common charges when thinking about the place. And then I remember to look at them. Dammit.
1842-
I guess you are referring to my username. It’s from a not actually very funny thing my midwest born and bred father said in reaction to NYC housing prices. I’m interested in something more than 2 bedrooms, but the memory of that reminds me to keep some perspective on this whole scene.
they assumed theres a big demand for multi-million dollar condos on the water.