While resale prices set new records in the first quarter of this year, the overall number of sales as well as prices of new condos showed a sharp decline.
The median price of a resale condo in the first quarter increased by 9.8 percent to $1.4 million compared to the same time last year, the Wall Street Journal reported. The median price of a resale co-op went up 4 percent to $725,000.
Prices for new condominiums dropped by 22.8 percent to $1.4 million, compared to $1.82 million during the first quarter of 2014, according to the newspaper. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2014, median prices for new condos dropped by 27.2 percent from $1.9 million.
Brokers and analysts have said that the fall in prices is the result of a timing issue, as many of the units that have already entered contract are still being built. Others are beginning to worry that buyers are turned off by the high prices at the top of the market.
More than 500 new apartments are in contract waiting to close, broker Donna Olshan, who compiles a weekly luxury report that tracks sales of $4 million or more, told the newspaper. Among the recorded sales in the first quarter are Woody Johnson’s record-setting $77.5 million co-op at 834 Fifth Avenue and the 18th floor of the Sherry-Netherland, which went for $67.5 million.
The amount of recorded sales dropped 6.7 percent in the first quarter of 2015, compared to last year. The number of sales dropped 2.2 percent compared to the previous quarter, the newspaper reported. The median price for all Manhattan condos saw a 4.9 percent decrease to $1.4 million, a 1.7 percent jump compared to the prior year. Meanwhile, the average price of all Manhattan apartments in the first quarter of the year was $965,000, a 6.4 percent increase from the same time last year. [WSJ] — Claire Moses