2013 was great for NYC condos — but can it last?

While this year has been hailed as having a near-perfect confluence of factors driving New York City residential real estate, some industry leaders are predicting it could pass.

Rising demand for sparse Manhattan condominiums combined with a no-holds-barred attitude towards luxury development has shattered records, with the average contract price exploding 60 percent in the third quarter of 2013 to a record $3.43 million, according to the Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group.

Meanwhile, the number of new units coming online in Manhattan is still below the average, according to Corcoran Sunshine. In 2013, 49 residential buildings with a total of 2,269 units opened in Manhattan, south of Harlem, compared to 30 buildings with 1,309 units in the previous year, Corcoran Sunshine said.

And a rise in building permit applications, to 3,339 filed in the first 10 months of this year, up from 2,328 in all of 2012, has the market looking up since the days of 2010.

Not surprisingly, new condos are getting scooped up. For example, at least 90 percent of the 125-unit NoMad condos at 10 Madison Square West are under contract, and the 66-unit Leonard at 101 Leonard Street in Tribeca was 80 percent sold two months after opening, the New York Times reported.

However not everyone thinks the flurry of new development is a good thing. Shaun Osher, CEO of real estate brokerage CORE, voiced concerns to the Times that the pool of buyers may not be deep enough to snap up high-end condos that lack value.

“Buyers are not going to be irrational in their purchases,” Osher told the Times. “I think there will be a pushback to price-per-square-foot numbers that don’t meet the quality or location of the product.” [NYT] — TRD