New York City multi-family sales up 114% in November

Although the New York City multi-family market saw fewer deals in November year-over-year, they were far bigger: Dollar volume climbed 114 percent to $1.3 billion from $585 million, according to a monthly report from Ariel Property Advisors.

Manhattan topped the other boroughs with $800 million in multi-family sales — a 149 percent jump compared with November 2012. Up to that point in 2013, the dollar volume was the highest of any month. Sales in the borough rose 410 percent from October. A 26-story Lower Manhattan building at 251 Cherry Street that sold for $279.3 million was among three institutional sales in November that exceeded $150 million.

There were 52 deals involving 160 buildings in the city, a 13 percent decrease and a 48 percent increase, respectively. A year earlier, there were 60 deals involving 108 buildings.

“At the end of 2012, there was a big push to close deals because of the change in tax laws,” Shimon Shkury, president of Ariel Property Advisors, told The Real Deal. “But this time, there were more buildings per deal, which means there were more portfolio sales in that month compared to last year.”

Northern Manhattan saw a massive 768 percent year-over-year rise in multi-family sales, to $424 million.

Things were slower in Brooklyn, which had 11 deals involving 17 buildings totaling $42.9 million. Notable sales include a four-story Brooklyn Heights property at 139 Joralemon Street for $675 per square foot and a four-story Park Slope property at 756 Union Street for $470 per square foot.

Queens held steady with seven deals involving 12 buildings valued at about $28 million, Ariel Property Advisors data show.

In the third quarter, the number of multi-family transactions in the city increased 12 percent over the same period in 2012, and the dollar volume of those trades leapt 57 percent, boosted by the $600 million sale of Westbrook’s multi-family portfolio, as previously reported.