High-End Sales Push Bring Home Price to Record High

REBNY president John Banks III

NEW YORK CITY—Fueled by sales at some of Manhattan’s most expensive condominium properties, the average sale price of a home in New York City shot up 10% to an all-time high of $1.018 million in the second quarter. The Real Estate Board of New York reveals in its second quarter residential report that average sale prices increased in all five boroughs of New York City, although citywide residential sales volume fell 2%. The increase in average home sales price was dominated by sales in some of Manhattan’s most expensive, new condominium buildings, including 432 Park Ave . Sales in the luxury sector caused the average sales price for a home in Manhattan to rise 20% to $2.118 million and the average sales price for a condo in Manhattan to spike by 21% to $2.843 million, as compared to the second quarter of 2015. The middle segment of the market also saw price appreciation with the median sales price for a New York City home increasing 7% to $582,000 in the second quarter as compared to a year earlier. “While high-end Manhattan sales drove up the average sales price, the continuous demand for middle market homes is pulling the median sales price of homes higher as well,” says REBNY president John Banks, III. “In response, the New York City residential sales market started to face some resistance as activity was down compared to last year.” REBNY reports that total consideration for all residential sales in New York City during the second quarter of 2016 was $11.2 billion, an 8% increase from the second quarter of last year. Year-over-year, total consideration rose: 9.4%t o $6.52 billion in Manhattan; less than 1% to $2.17 billion in Brooklyn; 9% to $1.74 billion in Queens; 28.4% to $340 million in the Bronx and 12.1% to $456 million in Staten Island. Other key takeaways from the REBNY report include that the average sales price of a Manhattan condominium in Midtown East nearly doubled to approximately $4.93 million, while the number of Midtown East condo sales rose 27% to 127 compared to the second quarter of last year. The large price increase was largely attributable to sales at 432 Park Ave. where the 19 sales transaction recordings in the second quarter averaged $19.3 million. Residential sales were hot in the second quarter in the Williamsburg condo market in Brooklyn, which sported a 43% increase to 120 sales compared to the second quarter of 2015. Despite the flurry of activity, the average sales price for a condo in Williamsburg fell 13% to $937,000.