I’ll recount a short conversation with a top-producing broker in my office this week, after seeing his gorgeous apartment listing on Riverside Drive.
“Are you having trouble convincing owners to sell their larger apartments?”
“Well, there’s nowhere for them to move into, so yes.
There are not enough huge apartments.”
The conversation continued talking about how many owners are making the typical leap from city to suburbs, buying large spec homes in Westchester.
But if an owner can’t find 4000, 5000, 6000 square feet in Manhattan, what, oh what, are they ever to do?
Answer?
Not sell.
I’ve covered this recently, but it’s important to cover again, since it impacts the entire apartment food chain.
Crain’s covered this yesterday- an article definitely worth reading.
There hasn’t been the huge pickup of listings this September.
Are sellers waiting for October?
Likely as not, no.
Anything with a River View on Riverside Drive is selling.
Anything gracious at all, frankly.
Anything large, even into West Harlem.
The need for more, and larger, apartments, is real.
The demand is there, and the supply is not.
Whether this means the prices will push higher is unclear, in the coop world.
432 Park, the next tallest tower
With that in mind, the lack of condos, and the demand which I’m seeing for them, has created quite an issue.
Simply put, more needs to be built, or we’re going to have a real shortage.
Perhaps then there will be a flood of apartment listings, that’s not the problem right now, not at all.
Here’s another article about this from yesterday, also in Crain’s.
Barring some unforeseen issues, with mortgage rates where they are, borrowing is so embarrassingly cheap that condo construction should be greenlit for all qualified developers, and we should see condo inventory pick up steam- whether it happens at the mid-to-low range in Manhattan may be doubtful, though.
Why would developers focus on the 1- and 2-bedroom inventory when the highest-of-the-high end is selling so well?
The numbers are staggering.
I would guess we’ll see most of the normal condo inventory get built in Brooklyn and Long Island City, not in Manhattan.
What gets built in Manhattan will be nice-returning rental buildings, and super high end condominiums.
Of course, any developer willing to do smaller apartments should see massive interest, as pricing in the $1200-1500 per square foot for “normal” apartments.
Amazing.