April appears unseasonably chilly for the luxury housing market.
Buyers pulled back on purchases of big-ticket apartments last week, a likely sign that high interest rates continue to weigh on residential sales across the board.
Between April 8 and April 14, buyers signed contracts for 18 Manhattan homes priced at $4 million and above, which represented a decline from the previous week’s total of 26, according to the latest Olshan Luxury Market Report, which tracks high-end deals.
And the stumble comes during a month that traditionally experiences a flurry of activity, said the report, which is published by the brokerage Olshan Realty.
Indeed, during the second week of April in 2023, buyers inked 26 deals for co-ops, condos and townhouses in Manhattan, according to the data. Earlier years saw even better numbers. The same time frame in April 2022 had 41 contract-signings, meanwhile, and the April 2021 period enjoyed 47 deals, according to Olshan.
The biggest deal of the past week was for a triplex penthouse atop the Grand Millennium condo in Lincoln Square. The six-bedroom, 6,800-square foot apartment, No. PH3BC at 1965 Broadway, was most recently listed at about $16 million, according to Streeteasy, though it was introduced around $20 million in 2022.
While the actual sale price won’t be known till the deed hits city records later this month, the unit’s seller, who appears to be former JPMorgan Chase & Co. chief operating officer Gordon Smith, seems poised to take a loss on the home, which is at West 67th Street. According to the city register, Smith paid $18.6 million for the penthouse in 2017.
But the luxury market wasn’t all doom and gloom last week. In fact, a buyer snapped up a four-bedroom condo at 10 Madison Square West, No. 11D, just a few days after it was unveiled for $12.5 million, a speedy transaction for any market.
Still, if it were to close at that price, the NoMad unit, a 3,300-square-foot spread at West 24th Street with 11-foot ceilings and views of Madison Square Park, would essentially be a wash for the seller, real estate investor Lee Pollock, who paid about $12 million for the home in 2016, records show.
Neighborhood-wise, lower Manhattan had the most sales last week, with 7 of the 18 deals, according to Olshan, and condos far outpaced co-ops and townhouses, accounting for 14 of the 18.
Many buyers and sellers entered 2024 optimistically assuming that the Federal Reserve would not only hold the line on interest rate increases but actually cut rates, which could lower the cost of home loans and presumably unlock the market.
But a hotter-than-expected inflation report in April may have put the brakes on that plan, or at least delayed it till much later in the year, as the Fed struggles to get price increases under control.
C. J. Hughes , 2024-04-15 18:35:31
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