US existing home sales post largest decline in three years

According to this week’s market reports, the Manhattan luxury market had its best week in nine months and only 14 percent of companies consider themselves to be agile with their real estate portfolios.

Residential

Sales | TOWN Residential

From January 22 to February 18, there were 728 contracts signed in Manhattan. Out of that total, 363 transactions were for co-ops, followed by 331 deals for condos and 20 for condops. The most robust price segment was the $1 million to $2 million segment, which accounted for 191 deals. The $2 million to $5 million bracket, meanwhile, accounted for 148 transactions. Read the full report here.

Sales | National Association of Realtors

Existing home sales across the U.S. registered its largest year-on-year decline in three years in January. During the month, total existing homes sales dropped 4.8 percent to 5.38 million transactions. The total also represents the second consecutive monthly drop for the segment. Read the report here.

Luxury Sales | Leslie J. Garfield

Between Feb. 3 to Feb. 16, 10 new townhouses were listed in Manhattan, the most expensive of which is 163 East 78th Street, which has an asking price of $18.45 million. During the period, six contracts were signed in Manhattan. The priciest was for 16 East 78th Street, which went into contract with a last asking price of $19.5 million. In Brooklyn, meanwhile, there were two townhouse deals. The most expensive contract was for 601 2nd Street, which had a last asking price of $5.1 million. Read the full report here.

Luxury Sales | Olshan Realty

The Manhattan luxury market had its best week in nine months. Between Feb. 12 to 18, there were 37 contracts signed at $4 million and above, matching the figure from the second week of May. The most expensive contract for the week was for !46 East 65th Street, which was sold by the estate of philanthropist David Rockefeller. The eight-bedroom, eight-bath home went into contract with a last asking price of $27 million. Read the report here.

Commercial

The Agility Mandate | CBRE and CoreNet Global

In a survey of 87 companies from the finance, technology, manufacturing and pharmaceutical sectors, 67 percent of respondents saw the need for portfolio agility (i.e. flexible space options in leases and shorter lease terms). However, there is a shortfall in terms of integrating agility into company strategy, with only 14 percent of respondents saying that they are highly agile with their real estate. The survey attributed this to the fact that in-house real estate teams tend to be lean. Also, 69 percent of respondents outsource real estate functions to third parties. Read the report here.