The Manhattan real estate market broke records in 2021. It was the best year ever with $30 billion in sales and over 16,000 contracts signed.  The great momentum did not slow down at the end of the year for the holidays. Q4 was one of the strongest on record posting a 47% annual rise in contracts signed, an 89% increase in closings, and $8 billion in sales volume. 

Looking for your advantage in this competitive market?  Watch this video to the end and I will reveal the one place where inventory has increased. 

Today’s Market:

So where are we now as 2022 begins and how does this impact you? Sellers are now in a stronger position than they were at the beginning of last year. Over the course of 2021, negotiability gave way to rising prices, while record volume deals diminished inventory. Meanwhile, buyers can still lock in historically low rates. While an increase over 3.5% for a mortgage seems high, if you were looking at rates below 3% last year, it is still cheap money. 

Signed Contracts:

I keep track of how many contracts are signed each week. I like following signed contracts because they are a more immediate market indicator. It tells me exactly what happened that week.  It can take anywhere from six weeks to six months for a deal to close after the contract is signed making it a more scattered data point.  Last week we saw 214 signed contracts. During the last quarter, it was not unusual to see more than 300 signed contracts in a week. It is too early to say if this lower amount of signed contracts is a new trend or simply the usual end of the year slowdown compounded by the Omicron variant. 

Pricing:

Manhattan pricing has risen for six consecutive quarters. In 2021 four of our buyers participated and won bidding wars.  This trend is due to historic demand, lower inventory, cooling negotiability, and a record-setting luxury market.  In Q4 market-wide price figures all rose between 5-9% with the largest gains happening downtown and on the Upper East side. Downtown the median price per square foot rose by 23%. The price gain is no surprise given that this neighborhood saw a 40% reduction in inventory. The Upper East Side was not far behind in price appreciation, showing a 21% increase driven by a number of new developments. 

Inventory:

As of mid-December, nearly 6,300 units were actively listed for sale in Manhattan, down 37% annually.  This is despite an all-time high of 4,100 new listings coming to market during 4Q 2021 as sellers look to take advantage of the hot market. The only place inventory numbers rose last quarter was in new development on the east side for studio and one bedroom apartments. 

The Corcoran Research Group:

I want to publicly acknowledge the Corcoran market research group. I couldn’t do what I do without them. They are a tremendous group of dedicated intelligent insightful professionals and their reports are the best in the market.

Don’t be shy if you think you’re buying or selling residential real estate reach out to me today I would be more than happy to talk to you I post these videos because I can’t of a conversation with all the people who are interested in buying and selling residential real estate on Mondays but you can watch this video at your leisure and I have many more videos so go to the Boland team at YouTube and watch them when you want to don’t forget to subscribe thanks 

My name is Julia Boland and I am with The Corcoran Group. For over 20 years I’ve been helping buyers and sellers find their way home in Manhattan. My great joy is helping buyers and sellers make their dreams come true.

Contact me today at: julia.boland@corcoran.com or 917-690-4861. You can also connect on Instagram @thebolandteam or on linkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebolandteam/

What We Do:

At the Boland Team, we are experts in the sales, marketing and leasing of residential real estate in New York City from Tribeca to Harlem. We handle transactions for sellers, buyers, investors, renters, developers and referring brokers. Our unparalleled expertise in Northern Manhattan is widely recognized. Our full suite of services not only includes our brokerage and advisory services, but also access to world class research, our national network of referral brokers and other ancillary real estate services. 

What We Do:

At the Boland Team, we are experts in the sales, marketing and leasing of residential real estate in New York City from Tribeca to Harlem. We handle transactions for sellers, buyers, investors, renters, developers and referring brokers. Our unparalleled expertise in Northern Manhattan is widely recognized. Our full suite of services not only includes our brokerage and advisory services, but also access to world class research, our national network of referral brokers and other ancillary real estate services.