A look at Midtown West, the Manhattan ‘hood with the biggest drop in inventory

Midtown West
Midtown West

There was a time when few would have considered Midtown West to be a hot residential market, but the boom changed that. Indeed, new towers filled the West 42nd Street corridor, like Extell Development’s 551-unit condo the Orion and the Moinian Group’s 475-unit Atelier. Despite its unconventionality, or maybe because of it, this neighborhood — which spans West 30th to 59th streets, from Eighth Avenue to the Hudson River — lured many foreign buyers, who liked its proximity to major tourist attractions.
Overseas investors may have a hard time parking their money there today, however. As of last month, there were only 257 units for sale in Midtown West, a 51 percent decrease from 521 in 2009, according to an analysis of data provided to The Real Deal by the listings website StreetEasy. The inventory is also 33 percent lower than it was last year at this time, when there were 385 listings available. Not surprisingly, prices have swung hard in the other direction: The average list price in 2009 was $1.4 million, but in 2013, it was $1.9 million, a 36 percent spike.

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This is an excerpt from “The inventory squeeze,” which originally appeared in The Real Deal’s May issue. To read the complete article click here.