Power in the New York real estate market is starting to lean more toward buyers, with prices of houses in Manhattan falling to their lowest point since October of 2015. According to StreetEasy’s latest market report, a significant bump in the number of houses for sale is forcing sellers to accept lower offers.
“The combination of a ton of new homes on the market and potential buyers holding out for better deals has shifted the market dynamic in Manhattan further in favor of buyers,” said Grant Long, a senior economist for StreetEasy.
Houses in Manhattan are correspondingly sold more, which should come as no surprise. However, despite rising real estate prices in Queens, home sales increased by more than ten percent over November last year.
“[These increases] should come as encouraging news to those looking to sell their homes, but it’s too early to tell whether this will be an enduring trend,” Long cautioned. “The majority of sellers are still struggling to get their homes noticed.”
Home sellers are finding it harder to stand out in a deepening pool of available houses, StreetEasy found. Inventory in Manhattan saw the smallest jump of the three boroughs measured, with only an 18 percent increase, totaling 1,400 homes going up for sale. By comparison, the number of homes for sale in Queens increased by 35 percent.
Renters, however, were not so lucky. Rent increased across the board in all three boroughs that StreetEasy studied, with the exception of North Brooklyn. There, the upcoming L shutdown drove rents down by an average of one percent.
“We’ve already started to see the rental market shift over the last few months,” Long added. “While rent increases typically slow this time of year, they’re continuing to rise across Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, as more buyers get cold feet and decide to remain as renters. That’s putting even more pressure on the city’s already-burdened rental market.”
Commensurate with the increased rents, the percentage of landlords offering rent concessions fell significantly across all boroughs, meaning that lease-seekers were much less likely to see rents reduced from advertised rates.
