REBNY: Investment Sales Hit $34B in Latter 2015

Banks: “Investors continue to see the appeal of investing in all property types throughout all the boroughs.”

NEW YORK CITY—The real estate investment market in New York City during the second half of 2015 was red-hot, reaching $34.3 billion citywide. The Real Estate Board of New York in its inaugural New York City investment sales report, issued Monday, reports that sales transactions in the final six months of last year surged 23% to 2,901 transactions across Manhattan the other four boroughs. All the boroughs, with the exception of Staten Island, saw a year-over-year increase in total consideration in the second half of 2015. Manhattan had the largest total consideration, rising 22% to $23.8 billion. Brooklyn saw its sales transaction value rise 35% to $5 billion. Queens and the Bronx had the largest percentage increases in total consideration, increasing 93% to $3.5 billion and 76% to $1.8 billion, respectively, compared to the same period in 2014. Staten Island was a bit of a paradox with total sales considerations down, while the number of transactions spiked higher in the second half of last year. Total consideration declined by 11% in Staten Island year-over-year (approximately $220 million in 2014 to $196.3 million in 2015), while transactions were an impressive 56% higher rising from 133 to 208 deals in the second half of last year. “The second half of 2015 resonated with ground-breaking, large-scale transactions and heightened activity citywide,” says John H. Banks , III, REBNY president. “Our report demonstrates the fact that investors continue to see the appeal of investing in all property types throughout all the boroughs.” The robust Manhattan investment sales market was bolstered by the $5.5-billion Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village sale . Other large investment property sales completed in the second half of 2015 were: the $2.4-billion sale of the office building at 11 Madison Ave.; the $540-million sale of DoubleTree Hotel Suites at 1568 Broadway; the $516-million sale of the top 12 floors of 229 West 43rd St., the New York Times’ former headquarters; and the $510-million sale of the office building at 575 Lexington Ave. REBNY reports that multifamily rental elevator properties accounted for 29% of the investment sales transactions in the second half of 2015, increasing to $10 billion from $3 billion in the second half of 2014. Office properties secured a 25% market share, although sales considerations fell 17% from $10.5 million in the second half of 2014 to $8.7 million during the same period last year. REBNY plans to publish the New York investment sales report on a bi-annual basis.