Manhattan co-op market starved for inventory in Q3

Condo listings’ decline trails that of other housing types for first time since 2010

Manhattan CondoPrice Index in the third quarter (credit: StreetEasy)
Manhattan CondoPrice Index in the third quarter (credit: StreetEasy)

The Manhattan co-op market took the biggest hit in inventory among all housing types during the third quarter.

According to a quarterly report from StreetEasy released today, co-op inventory, which dropped by 10.6 percent, saw a greater tumble than overall borough condo inventory for the first time since 2010. The quarter-over-quarter decline in available condos was far smaller, at 2.2 percent.

Co-op inventory dropped to 5,678 apartments from 5,646 during the quarter. What’s more, two out of every five co-op units that listed during the third quarter fell into the bottom tier of pricing for the market – less than $625,000.

Nevertheless, co-op sales continue to smash records. Ukrainian-born businessman Leonard Blavatnik bought New York Jets owner Woody Johnson’s duplex for $80 million, making it the priciest co-op sale ever, as previously reported.

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Across the board, Manhattan inventory – including townhouses and condominiums as well as co-ops – dropped 6 percent quarter-over-quarter. Little Italy had the highest concentration of listings for homes priced above $1.25 million, with eight of them.

Listings that entered contract sat on the market for a median of 70 days. In the second quarter, the median was 49 days.

Sales prices saw an ever-so-slight uptick of 0.6 percent from the previous quarter and a larger bump of 4.1 percent from last year’s third quarter. The median Manhattan price for all home types was $885,000, the report shows.

“The market remains starved for new inventory. This is particularly true for co-op-focused buyers, whose options saw the most dramatic decrease over the quarter,” Alan Lightfeldt, data scientist for StreetEasy, said in the report.