Manhattan apartment sales prices top $2
million for first time: survey
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[December 14, 2016]
By Herbert Lash
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The average sales
price of an apartment in Manhattan is expected to top $2 million this
year for the first time, but prices are seen leveling off in 2017 after
nearly doubling over the past decade.
Prices were pushed higher by a jump in sales of condominiums valued at
$10 million or more, which skewed results, CityRealty, a real estate
listings and data website for New York City, said on Wednesday.
The opening of 432 Park Avenue, a 96-story tower marketed by developers
as the tallest residential building in the Americas, had an outsized
effect on prices, said CityRealty research director Gabby Warshawer.
Fifty-two of the 75 units sold at the tower overlooking Central Park
fetched more than $10 million, she said. Some units are priced at more
than $40 million.
An increase in new developments and a rise in the price of existing
units also lifted the market, Warshawer said.
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Prices have climbed every year since 2011 but are expected to flatline
next year. A lack of expensive, large new buildings will act to keep
prices in check in 2017, CityRealty said.
The potential impact on sales and prices of the recent rise in mortgage
rates was not analyzed, Warshawer said.
Mortgage rates have shot up since the Nov. 8 U.S. election as interest
rates have climbed broadly on expectations of faster economic growth and
accelerating inflation under stimulus programs President-elect Donald
Trump wants to enact.
The interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage now averages 4.27
percent, a two-year high, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association,
up from about 3.60 percent in the weeks before the election.
CityRealty examined sales registrations from New York City's Department
of Finance. Much of Harlem and nearby areas were excluded because it is
a small piece of the market and affordable housing data is more
difficult to glean, she said.
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![](../images/121416pics/news_b1.jpg)
The building known as 432 Park Avenue rises above the Manhattan
borough of New York, U.S., November 2, 2016. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
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December 2016 sales were extrapolated based on the year's data through
Nov. 30.
The average co-op and condo price in Manhattan excluding Harlem and
nearby areas rose to $2.2 million in 2016 from a record $1.9 million the
year before, CityRealty estimated. For all of Manhattan, the average
sales price was $2.1 million.
A condo is owned directly, but the buyer of a co-op obtains shares in a
corporation that owns the building.
The median price for apartments, or the middle of all sales considered,
also set a record at $1.2 million, up from $1.1 million last year, in
the area examined.
A decade ago, the price of new condo units was almost the same as
existing ones, but prices at new developments since 2008 have outpaced
those of existing ones.
The average price for an apartment in the area of Manhattan examined was
91 percent higher than in 2006, CityRealty said.
(Reporting by Herbert Lash; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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