February is a short month, and time is moving fast!
But January numbers are in, and what do they show?
What’s going on under the hood?
Sellers are still struggling to adjust to recent closed sales, and are negotiating in lieu of price reductions.
I do love the phrase “aspirational pricing,” which Jonathan Miller brings back in this recent write-up. Sellers are in the midst of moving from this type of pricing to reality.
There is still very low inventory- at the low end of the market, and there seems to a greater supply as the size and price goes up.
But when 150 people attend an open house for a 1- or 2-bedroom apartment, obviously there is pent-up demand and bidding wars in some situations.
This type of attendance is obviously not the norm, but we are seeing 15-20 or more buyers come through certain 2- and 3-bedroom listing open houses.
What’s Happening Under This Hood?
In some new developments, I have heard of steep discounts, as much as 25-30% in some cases.
That’s concerning, but not surprising.
Aspirational pricing has impacted Resales and New Developments alike.
Other new developments are switching brokers in an effort to shake things up when things stall on the sales side, also trying new marketing efforts on Facebook, in an effort to move beyond the full page in the New York Times Magazine, the success of which is hard to measure.
Certainly, real estate marketing must continue to improve.
And in these moments when the market seems to be less strong than it was two years ago, combined with aggressive pricing and overpricing, some marketing can only overcome so much.
This month’s Absorption Report shows action, and we’re seeing a lot of buyer interest across Manhattan and Brooklyn.
I’ll keep things short- we’re in the middle of a transition, and it remains hard to gauge which direction the market is moving, largely because it seems to be moving in two directions at one.
So I’m going to only say this- as we enter the true Spring market, we’ll get a better sense of what’s going on.
It’s too early to tell how the year will be shaping up.
-S