Examining top agents and top firms, The Real Deal set out this past month to take a comprehensive look at the current Web site listings of the 10 biggest residential real estate companies in Manhattan. Following up on a similar survey last year, we tallied total listings at each company, total dollar value of listings, top producers and how the average broker in the industry is faring.
Dolly Lenz has a concise explanation for why she is the top real estate broker in New York City, and why her listings account for nearly a quarter of the overall dollar value of listings at Douglas Elliman.
“I am playing chess while every other broker is playing checkers,” Lenz recently told author Steven Gaines in his book on high-end Manhattan real estate, The Sky’s the Limit, describing her no-holds-barred reputation. “I will get that deal. If my eye is on the prize, I will make that deal.”
Lenz’s current 42 listings, including 28 in Manhattan, add up to a total of more than $536 million. That represents nearly a quarter of Elliman’s $2.23 billion worth of listings among its Manhattan agents.
The number of agents and prices grew, even if the number of listings didn’t. There were more than 3,800 agents at the top ten firms as of last month, up 19 percent from a year ago. Listings dropped 16 percent.
Overall, Douglas Elliman remained the biggest firm in terms of agents–adding 193 in the past year–but Corcoran finished number one in total value of listings and led all Manhattan-based firms in Brooklyn by a wide margin.
Showing that consolidation bolsters success in a highly competitive market, Elliman and Corcoran accounted for more than 50 percent of listings among the biggest firms, up from 46 percent last year.
Sotheby’s agents led the pack with the highest-priced listings overall. The median price of a listing at Sotheby’s was an incredible $5.09 million, up from $2.75 million a year ago. Every firm surveyed saw dramatic increases from listing prices a year ago. Bellmarc had the most listings per agent, unseating Brown Harris Stevens, who finished first in that category in 2004.
Following the departure of president and part owner Peter Marra, William B. May saw a slight decline in the number of agents and was dropped from the list this year, with its 114 agents being topped by Fenwick-Keats, with 122 agents.
A few caveats about the survey. It included Manhattan and Brooklyn agents and their listings in those boroughs. It included only listings, because of the difficulty in compiling data for closed sales and sales in contract. The survey didn’t include firms primarily involved in rentals. In cases where agents shared a listing, that property was counted twice, which may have led to slightly higher numbers, though the effect would be uniform across all firms. Every attempt was made to eliminate open listings from the survey results. Data for the survey was collected in mid-April.