Inventory is dwindling for both Manhattan renters and buyers, according to two recent market analyses, and that’s pushing apartment rents and prices higher.

Citi Habitats figures cited by the Wall Street Journal show just 2,230 new rental units will arrive in Manhattan this year, as the construction slowdown during the recession starts to rear its head just as apartment demand is at its highest. Many people have turned to renting in the uncertain economy and the vacancy rate during the typically lax winter months currently sits at just 1.27 percent. [more]

New York’s rapidly expanding inventory of hotel rooms is continuing to grow, the Post reported, making developers increasingly dependent on the tourist trade.

In the last decade, the number of hotel rooms in Manhattan has increased by more than 27 percent, to 78,347 in 2011 from 61,464 in 2000, said Tom McConnell, head of Cushman & Wakefield’s hospitality group. And that growth shows no sign of letting up. About 3,000 new rooms are in construction in Manhattan alone, including Extell Development’s Hyatt on West 57th Street and the Hyatt Times Square at 135 West 45th Street, and plans for others are afoot, he said. [more]

The total number of residential listings fell 19 percent nationwide in August, compared to the same period in 2010, according to data from Realtor.com. There were 2,267,327 residential units listed in the United States in August, which represented a 1.9 percent drop from July. New York City inventory fell just 2.4 percent in the same period. The average listing price for U.S. properties was $320,325, an increase of 2.6 percent from August 2010. The data also shows the average U.S. property has been on the market for 103 days. — Alexander Britell
[more]

Sales of studios and one-bedroom apartments may have rebounded more quickly after the 2008 market crash, but two-bedrooms are finally catching up, according to the New York Times. Brokers now say that the demand for two-bedrooms is surpassing that for smaller apartments, especially those on the lower end of the market.
Overall, New York City apartment inventory has grown by 13.4 percent since March 1, but inventory of two-bedrooms increased at the slowest rate and grew by only 11.4 percent. “If inventory gets tighter,” Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel, observed, “that portends a more robust two-bedroom market for the year.”
Two-bedrooms had a median sales price of $1.65 million in 2008. That figure now hovers around $1.21 million, according to Miller Samuel data. [more]

The inventory of unsold homes on multiple-listing services is on the rise nationwide. Last month, inventory rose by 0.6 percent from the month prior and by 13 percent year-over-year, the Wall Street Journal reported. Based on data from Move Inc., 107 markets saw an increase in listings, while only 39 saw inventory either decrease or remain flat when compared to January. (February typically sees a listings uptick as home sellers prepare for the spring buying season). On a year-over-year basis, only seven markets have seen home listings decline: Jersey City, N.J. and Orlando, Fla. are among them. [more]

New York City ranked sixth among the list of the top 10 worst-selling housing markets, according to Forbes, due in part to its 13 percent sales price drop between 2008 and 2009, and the 13 percent rise in inventory over the same time period. Other cities that have proven hostile to sellers, according to the ranking, are Milwaukee, Wis. and Denver, Colo., which came in first and second places, respectively. Although the report includes data on just single-family homes and not condo units, experts who weighed in on the data determined that those cities with a large presence of condos, like New York City and San Francisco, may have suffered more in the downturn. “Housing gets pulled up along with condos because the luxury market sets the bar so high,” Jonathan Miller, appraiser and president of Miller Samuel, said. “When that market freezes up, sales on single-family homes drop more than they would otherwise.” According to Forbes, it’s that influence that led to New York City’s high rank on the list — “the condominium market has a far greater impact [there] than it does on other cities’ real estate markets.” Conspicuously absent from the list was Detroit, which has seen its housing market suffer tremendously during the economic downturn but did not have readily available sale price data and therefore could not be included.

From the August issue: One of the most confusing — and contradictory — aspects of the current
real estate market is the dropping supply of available apartments,
which seems inexplicable in the face of slow sales and plummeting
prices. Yet inventory has been declining since the spring, when it peaked
at over 11,000 listings. While the subsequent drop seems to signal a
market turnaround, market analysts told The Real Deal that the current level of inventory has more to do with sellers taking their listings on and off the market.
This fall’s real estate market was “very reactionary,” said Sofia
Kim, vice president of research at the real estate listings Web site
StreetEasy. “People were putting their places on the market out of
fear.” Now, many sellers are taking their listings off the market when
they can’t sell them at the desired price, deciding to wait — and in
some cases, collect rental income — instead. Meanwhile, as new condos
come online, their developers are waiting to market them until previous
rounds of units have been sold. [more]

The inventory of homes listed for sale in many U.S. cities declined 2.5
percent in July from the previous month, according to data from
California-based brokerage firm ZipRealty. The inventory was 27 percent
below July 2008 levels. ZipRealty’s figures cover single-family homes,
condominiums and townhouses, but foreclosed homes that banks are still
getting ready to sell aren’t included. The ZipRealty data also does not
include New York City, but according to appraisal firm Miller
Samuel, which includes co-ops as well as condos, July’s New York City
inventory was 7.8 percent lower than the inventory in June of this
year, but 6.9 percent higher than in July 2008. [more]

From the May issue: This past month, a real estate broker
advertised that he would dress up as the Incredible Hulk at a Sunday
open house, hoping an appearance by the muscle-bound monster would lure
buyers to his listing for a Midtown condo. He even went so far as to
place signs around the unit warning that lowball offers would cause the
Hulk to get angry. The stunt may have been a joke, but the sentiment
was real. This spring, despite a flurry of activity by
bargain-hunting home-seekers, deals are still rare as buyers and
sellers exhibit contradictory expectations. “For every one seller who
thinks pricing will be going up soon, I have 100 buyers telling me the
opposite,” said Paul Purcell, co-founder of Charles Rutenberg
Realty. [more]