NYC multi-family sales rise in January, but dollar volume tumbles

New York City multi-family transactions jumped by 6 percent in January 2012 compared to December 2011, but dollar volume tumbled month-over-month due to the absence of deals by institutional investors, according to data from Ariel Property Advisors, released today.

There were 34 multi-family sales citywide in January, totaling $170.855 million in dollar volume. In contrast, there were 32 transactions in December, with $782.68 million in gross consideration.

“It’s common for January sales to lag behind December sales which are typically strong,” said Shimon Shkury, president of Ariel Property Advisors. “Multi-family activity is generally trending up but sales continue to be inconsistent from month to month. The drop in dollar volume can be attributed to a lack of January institutional sales, which were more prominent in the year-end December figures.”

Manhattan Below 96th Street performed best of all areas covered in Ariel’s data. There were eight transactions totaling $46.83 million. None of the sales surpassed $9 million in value, however. — Katherine Clarke