Manhattan Inventory Remains Tight for Buyers, Co-op Supply Shrinks by More Than 10 Percent

NEW YORK, Oct. 31, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Key facts:

• Manhattan inventory across all home types (condos, co-ops and townhouses) fell 6 percent from the second to the third quarter of 2014, and remains 16 percent below the 5-year average.
• Co-op inventory decreased the most in Q3 among Manhattan home types (10.1 percent), and fell below condo inventory supply for the first time in four years.  
• Listings that went into contract in Q3 spent a median of 70 days on the market, up from 49 days in the previous quarter.
• Manhattan sale prices rose 0.6 percent from the second to the third quarter to a median of $885,000. Prices remain 4.1 percent above year-ago levels.

The traditionally slower summer months did not bring relief to the near-record low levels of inventory that have been fueling Manhattan real estate price increases over the past year. Manhattan inventory, including all home types (condos, co-ops and townhouses), fell 6 percent from the second to the third quarter of 2014, and remains 16 percent below the 5-year average, according to the Q3 2014 StreetEasy Manhattan Real Estate Market Reportⁱ.

Co-op inventory experienced the tightest squeeze in Q3, with inventory falling 10.1 percent compared to last quarter. Condo inventory decreased only 2.2 percent quarter-over-quarter and, for the first time in four years, surpassed co-op inventory on the market.

Despite the supply shortage, homes spent significantly more time on the market, rising to a median time of 70 days from just 49 days in the previous quarter. While 70 days is historically a low number, it is a significant adjustment from the hyper pace experienced in the beginning of 2014.

"The market remains starved for new inventory. This is particularly true for co-op-focused buyers, whose options saw the most dramatic decrease over the quarter," said StreetEasy Data Scientist Alan Lightfeldt. "Listings are spending more time on the market which signals that buyers are becoming much more wary of price and waiting to find value - a stark contrast from the buying frenzy we saw in the first two quarters of this year."

Manhattan median sale prices stayed relatively flat, rising a modest 0.6 percent from Q2 to $885,000. Prices remain 4.1 percent above year-ago levels. Condos commanded a significantly higher median sale price in comparison to co-ops, at $1.3 million, nearly double what co-ops sold for in the third quarter ($685,000). Townhouses remained the highest priced segment of the market in Q3, with a median sale price of $7.5 million. Though the volume of townhouse inventory was small, the median sale price jumped 45 percent compared to last year's level.

The StreetEasy Condo Price Indexⁱⁱ, a repeat-sales index that tracks price movement in the Manhattan condo market, showed condo prices exceeded last quarter's record high, increasing 2.6 percent from Q2 and remain nearly 10 percent over Q3 2013 levels. Condo price growth is predicted to ease modestly (-0.3 percent) in October according to the StreetEasy Condo Price Forecastⁱⁱⁱ.

The full report, including a neighborhood breakdown of StreetEasy Manhattan Real Estate Market Report data and additional analysis, can be viewed at streeteasy.com/market/reports.

About StreetEasy:
Launched in 2006 and acquired by Zillow, Inc. in August 2013, StreetEasy is New York City's leading real estate marketplace on mobile and the Web, providing accurate and comprehensive for-sale and for-rent listings from hundreds of real estate brokerages in New York City. StreetEasy adds layers of deep, proprietary data and useful search tools that help consumers and real estate professionals navigate the complex real estate markets within the five boroughs of New York City, Northern New Jersey and the Hamptons.

ⁱ The StreetEasy Manhattan Real Estate Market Report is a quarterly overview of the Manhattan real estate market including analysis on condos, co-ops and townhomes/single-family residences. The report data is aggregated from public sources by a number of data providers and real estate brokerages for all five major submarkets within Manhattan, with most metrics dating back to 1995. The reports are compiled by the StreetEasy Research team. For more information, visit streeteasy.com/nyc/market/reports. StreetEasy also tracks data for the five boroughs within New York City.

ⁱⁱ The StreetEasy Condo Price Index (SECPI), previously named the StreetEasy Condo Market Index, provides a measurement for how prices are moving in the Manhattan condo real estate market. It is based on a repeat-sales method, which compares the sale prices of the same properties over time. The SECPI is indexed to the year 2000 with a value of 100. A value of 200, for example, would indicate that Manhattan condos are trading at twice their 2000 price. Since the repeat-sales methodology tracks price changes over time in the same unit, the SECPI is a much more reliable measure for sale prices as it controls for biases and errors created by variables such as location, size, age, and condition.

ⁱⁱⁱ The StreetEasy Condo Price Forecast (SECPF) predicts the change in Manhattan condo sale prices one month out from the current reported period. By incorporating the StreetEasy Condo Price Index, StreetEasy's comprehensive database of listing prices and days on market - two leading indicators to future condo prices - we are able to accurately forecast next month's condo prices before the release of publicly recorded sales data.

SOURCE StreetEasy

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