October Market Update

The LevinKong Team hopes that you are safe, well, and enjoying this crisp and comfortable fall weather. New Yorkers are savoring outdoor dining, our many parks, and the plethora of outdoor events that our city has to offer. Offices are opening back up and the city’s streets and subways are once again bustling.

As we’ve been speaking to for several months now, our NYC real estate market has also returned to levels that haven’t been seen since a couple of years before the pandemic hit. Particularly in Manhattan, we are now seeing prices similar to 2018 levels. They aren’t quite back to the levels of 2015, 2016, and 2017, but they are up from 2019 and 2020. Deal volume, however, is up significantly — witnessing levels that have surged past any quarter in the 30 plus years of tracking this datapoint. Inventory is hitting the market, but not at levels that are offering relief to buyers. Demand is up 153% year-over-year; as buyers come back into the market, we should start to see more of a squeeze on this inventory and with it price appreciation.

In the Brooklyn market we didn’t see as much of a falloff, even at the peak of the pandemic. Here, we are seeing prices closer to the peak numbers of 2017. There was less value lost, so the incredible activity levels have already brought the market back and we expect prices to continue to climb. Supply is slowly inching up, but demand has remained strong and is up 73% year-over-year.

After rising sharply after the Fed’s mid-September meeting, mortgage rates backed down after hitting three month highs. While we are still seeing advantageous rates, many of the best that we have seen will most likely not return. We anticipate modest rises in rates for the remainder of the year and more to come next year. With inflation on everyone’s mind, many savvy buyers are looking to expand their real estate portfolios, and this is being felt most significantly in the luxury and new development segments. While there is still opportunity, the life being blown back into those sectors means that this opportunity is waning at the very least.

With proper guidance, there are many ways to take advantage of this dynamic and intricate market. More than ever, a data-driven, research-based approach rooted in decades of experience, will equip our clients to thrive in this environment. Please let us know if we can answer any questions you may have about the market, or how best to navigate complicated decisions.