Manhattan has become a “buyer’s market” as prices plummet and inventory soars to a decade high, according to new reports.
The average apartment price fell 3.3% to $2 million in the second quarter, according to a report from real estate appraisal and consulting firms Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel.
The median sales price decreased by 1.5% to around $1.2 million, the report found.
Manhattan inventory has currently more than 8,000 apartments for sale, a 4.2% spike from 2023 — the first increase in more than a year, according to the report, first cited by CNBC.
The inventory is 13.7% above the past 10 years average of around 7,000 apartments, according to the report.
It would take nearly 10 months to sell 8,000 apartments without any new units coming on the market, according to a separate report from Brown Harris Stevens.
“Any number over six months tells us there is too much supply and we are in a buyer’s market,” the report said.
High mortgage rates have kept buyers and sellers on the sidelines, but that is beginning to change.
“The buyers’ and sellers’ resolve is weakening,” Miller Samuel CEO Jonathan Miller said. “At a certain point, they can only wait so long before they feel like they have to make a move.”
The luxury market, which represents the top 10% of total sales, saw a steeper year-to-year increase in inventory than the non-luxury gain, according to the outlet.
Luxury inventory spiked 22.4% from last year to a total of 1,593 listings, according to the report.
The median sales price for luxury listings was nearly $6 million, which is down 10.5% since last year and is the first decline for luxury apartments in more than a year, the report said.
More sales are closing in Manhattan as buyers are persuaded to take advantage of price dips — despite 30-year fixed mortgage rates keeping steady around 7%.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Tuesday that more data was needed before cutting interest rates. Buyers who swoop in now escape a likely spike in demand after those federal cuts are made.
“This is a moment in time that will have people who stayed on the sidelines saying I wish I had bought then,” Douglas Elliman President and CEO Scott Durkin told the Post in a statement.
In the second quarter, 2,609 Manhattan sales closed – up 12.2% from 1,988 sales last year, according to the report.
High city rents are also pushing residents to buy – the average rent in Manhattan in March was $4,831, according to listing service RentCafe, and these prices will likely only increase as prices tend to spike toward summer.
But the influx of closings may not last long. The 698 contracts signed last month is down from the 811 contracts signed in June of last year and fewer homes were listed on the report.
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