Manhattan home sales pummeled by pandemic
BY ROBERT
POZARYCKI
Amid the economic
turmoil that the
COVID-19 pandemic
has wrought on
New York City, the real
estate market continues
to take a beating.
Though there were
some signs of stability,
PropertyShark reported
Tuesday, real estate
sales in the five boroughs
are down 53%
in May year-over-year.
That followed up a 61%
plunge in year-overyear
real estate sales in
April.
Even so, there didn’t
appear that many homes
up for sale across the
city. In a report released
early Wednesday
morning, Street-
Easy found that just
717 homes across New
York City came on the
real estate market — an
86% decrease from the
5,095 listings added in
April 2019.
“Most New Yorkers
who don’t absolutely
need to buy or sell right
now simply aren’t doing
so,” said StreetEasy
Economist Nancy Wu.
“The massive drop in
inventory shows us that
the majority of wouldbe
sellers can wait, and
are opting to do so to
avoid any pressure to
make price cuts.”
Driven sellers, however,
weren’t afraid to
lower their prices in
April. The Manhattan
price index that Street-
Easy monitors fell
2.7%, to $1,075,336. B
Those homeowners
determined to make a
sale amid the pandemic
at least didn’t risk their
broker’s health in doing
so, resorting to video
tours to entice potential
buyers. In April,
according to Street-
Easy, there was a 132%
increase in listings that
featured a walkthrough
video or a 3D Home
tour from the previous
month.
The PropertyShark
report offered a few
bright spots. The first
half of May saw “noticeably
stronger sales
trends” than in April,
with 737 deals registered.
It appeared to
be a sign of “a gradual
return for transactional
activity.”
The median sales
price in May also stabilized
at $700,000,
which marked a 2%
gain over the May 2019
median price. Even
though pricing trends
have been “firmly positive
throughout the crisis,”
PropertyShark’s
report noted that the
2% May gain represented
“the smallest
year-over-year price
growth” in 2020.
But by the third week
of May, PropertyShark
stated, it seemed the
real estate market began
to slow again, as
just 324 sales were registered
that week — the
slowest 7-day period
since mid-April.
Yet even as the sales
market seemingly dries
up, and the economy in
overall turmoil, Street-
Easy found that rents
appeared to increase
across the city during
April.
StreetEasy’s Manhattan
Rent Index rose
2.5% year-over-year, to
$3,308 in April 2020.
The report cautioned,
however, that upheaval
amid the pandemic may
have caused actual rent
price growth to slow.
Some might see
higher rents during the
pandemic as a tragic
irony given the ongoing
push to forgive or cancel
rents altogether for
struggling New Yorkers
during the pandemic.
At the start of the crisis,
Governor Andrew
Cuomo ordered a moratorium
on evictions
and foreclosures to
keep residents in their
homes. Critics charge
that’s not enough to
spare low-income and/
or unemployed New
York residents from
hardship and their
housing costs.
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