NEW YORK CITY-Even without the threat of a capital gains tax this year—a concern that fueled a rush of activity in the fourth quarter of 2012—activity in the fourth quarter of last year set a record for the condominium market. That's according to the StreetEasy Manhattan Condo Market index, which increased by 1% in November from the previous month and by 12% year-over-year. The spike puts the index at 2,204, meaning that condos are selling at 2.2 times their price in 2000 or, as a spokeswoman put it, “we're looking at a condo market that is twice as strong as it was 13 years ago.”
The median closing price on a condominium rose to $832,528 in the fourth quarter, compared to $825,000 in the final months of 2012. Total inventory actually decreased by 8.9% since the previous quarter and by 8.7% year-over-year. The number of signed contracts also fell, by 5.5% since Q3, but it spiked by 10.4% since the fourth quarter of 2012.
Price cuts, as a share of all available listings for co-ops and condos, increased to 21.5% from 19.3% in the third quarter and 23.1% of all listings in Q4 2012. About 6% of all available listings for co-ops and condos had a price increase in the fourth quarter, StreetEasy reports. That's down from 6.4% of all listings in the third quarter and 5.8% of all listings in the fourth quarter of 2012. But buyers are clearly ready to do the deal: the typical time on market fell by 31.3% to 92 days, compared to 134 days in Q4 2012.
Meanwhile, the pace of new condominium listings in the fourth quarter averaged 263 new listings per week, a 19.1% decrease since the third quarter but a 14.9% increase year-over-year. An average of 362 listings were absorbed each week in the final quarter of 2013, a 2.2% decrease from the average of 370 absorbed listings per week in the third quarter and a 5.8% decrease from the average of 384 in the final quarter of 2012. Total inventory in Q4 2013 (10,181 units) was 8.9% lower than Q3 2013 (11,178 units) and 8.7% lower than Q4 2012 (11,148 units).
Of listings that went into contract at year's end, there were 2,826 listings; a dip of 5.5% from the third quarter, when 2,990 listings went into contract, but a healthy 10.4% increase—from 2,559 contracts—from the fourth quarter of 2012.
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Rayna Katz
Rayna Katz is a seasoned business journalist whose extensive experience includes coverage of the lodging sector, travel and the culinary space. She was most recently content director for a business-to-business publisher, overseeing four publications. While at Meeting News, a travel trade publication, she received a Best Reporting award for a story on meeting cancellations in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
