NYC Multifamily Sales Reach Record Levels

NEW YORK CITY—Paced by the $5.45-billion sale of Stuyvesant Town & Peter Cooper Village , multifamily sales in New York City reached a record-settling $19 billion in 2015. Excluding that sale, the city’s multifamily sales volume was still on par with 2014′s record sales volume, according to a report by brokerage firm Ariel Property Advisors . Multifamily transaction volume approached $13 billion in 2014 . The latest Ariel Property Advisors’ report, titled “Multifamily Year in Review: New York City, 2015,” covers the multifamily sub-markets of Manhattan, Northern Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens. For all of 2015, the city saw 781 transactions involving 1,402 buildings. Compared to 2014 activity, these figures represent a 52% increase in dollar volume, a 2% increase in transaction volume and were flat in terms of building volume. “New York City continued to be a premier destination for multifamily investing in 2015 as more transactions took place at higher prices throughout the boroughs,” states Shimon Shkury , president of Ariel Property Advisors. “With the economy gaining strength and global economic turmoil leading many investors to believe that interest rates will stay low, we remain confident in the market’s 2016 trajectory.” The Ariel report indicates that multifamily pricing was stable in Manhattan, while the outer boroughs did enjoy modest price gains. The Upper East Side saw the largest sales volume with 31 multifamily transactions totaling $500 million in gross consideration. The Lower Manhattan neighborhoods of the East Village, Lower East Side and Chinatown combined saw 40 transactions totaling $891 million. The Bronx stood out in 2015 with its average price per square foot rising an impressive 32% year-over-year, jumping from $121-per-square-foot to $160-per-square-foot. Another sign of a strong market was evident in the median transaction category where the sale price increased in every sub-market. Brooklyn saw the greatest percentage increase at 16.7% with Kings County’s median price soaring from $4.775 million to $5.575 million. Another indicator of strength in the outer boroughs was that 24 out of the 46 transactions of more than $50 million that traded last year were outside of core Manhattan, compared to only 18 out of 44 deals in 2014. Even at the very top of the market, 10 out of the 21 deals over $100 million took place outside of core Manhattan, Ariel Property Advisors reports.