Posted by Leonard Steinberg, Urban Compass, on July 1st, 2014

In this morning’s NEW YORK POST:  “The sale price for Manhattan apartments has skyrocketed 20 percent this year, a market report has found. Manhattan home buyers paid an average $1.69 million in the second quarter of 2014, compared with $1.41 million for the second quarter of 2013, says the report from realty giant Corcoran. But at the same time, there were 3,781 closed sales for the second quarter of 2014 — 10 percent fewer than the second quarter of last year. The number of signed contracts were down 22 percent, to 3,593, during the same period.”

We are experiencing the same conditions that were experienced a few years ago in what we termed the ‘PLAZA EFFECT’: Just as back then when the closings at The Plaza Hotel swayed average pricing artificially upwards, now too we are witnessing the same effect with several huge closings at 157 West 57th Street impacting the average closed prices for the second quarter of 2014 …..and those averages have soared. But is this short-lived? Two years ago we predicted this would happen as all the reports released report on closed sales, closings that often happen years after contracts are signed in ultra high end buildings. What we are seeing reported today is what happened in the market over a year ago. It does not apply to all properties in New York. And it is why these averages are so deceiving. Currently there are several hundred signed contracts waiting to close in the next 6 -24 months: will pricing soar another 20-40% when they close in bulk, thus impacting the averages even more so? What happens in quarters when these ultra-high-end buildings are not closing……do the averages drop dramatically?

This blanket reporting on the markets is about to change.

http://nypost.com/2014/06/30/apartment-prices-in-manhattan-are-astronomical-and-still-surging/