2023 can be summed up as a year that defied the basic law of supply and demand. We finished Q4 with 10.2% fewer sales, yet a 7.3% (median) price increase year over year, which now sits at $1,180,000. While there were fewer sales, majority of them happened in new developments and in luxury markets commanding a price of $5M and up. $5M - $20M home sales saw a 30% increase and $20M+ home sales experienced nearly twice as many.
While the luxury market dominates headlines, I would be remiss not to mention 40% of sales were in the $1M-$3M range, which was down by just 4% compared to last year.
Prices continue to hold strong not only due to these sales in the luxury market but also due to low inventory levels. Nearly 40% of home owners are locked into ultra low interest rates not wanting to lose them unless they have a lifestyle change requiring them to put their homes on the market. We are expecting more inventory as interest rates ease up.
Interest rates coming down translated to a 7.6% increase in signed contracts in Q4. We are hopeful that activity will continue to pick up with additional decreases scheduled by the Fed.
The Downtown market, which excludes FiDi and Battery Park, experienced a reduction in number of sales as well as sales volume by 16.2% and 7.5% respectively. It mirrored the overall Manhattan market by an increase of 17.7% in median sales price.
71% of sales were made up of 1 and 2 Bedroom homes, while 3 and 4+ Bedroom homes only made up 17% of the market. The strongest price increase happened for 3 Bedroom condos which broke the $5M barrier in the median price category with a 30% increase from Q4 2022.
The full report on all Manhattan neighborhoods can be found here. If you have any feedback or questions, please contact us any way that suits you. We'd love to help you!