From the November issue: The total dollar volume of sales for one- and two- family Manhattan homes — primarily pricey townhouses — was down 23.6 percent for the first nine months of this year compared to the same time in 2015. A TRD analysis of NYC Department of Finance sales data found that both the total number of transactions and the median sales price for this category also dropped.
“A lot of product that has sat on the market this year is just not realistic,” said Prince Dockery, a broker at Town Residential [TRDataCustom], speaking about prices in the townhouse sector.
Dockery said the drop in townhouse sales is part of the overall softening at the top of the market. He said some townhouse sellers uptown are setting asking prices too high and not seeing much interest, prompting them to shift strategies and rent their homes.
Outside of Manhattan, however, one- and two-family home sales are surging. Total sales dollar volume rose in Queens, the Bronx and Brooklyn, while the number of transactions jumped in both the Bronx and Queens. The Bronx saw the largest sales-volume spike during the first nine months of 2016 year over year, climbing 26.9 percent.
“About a third of our buyers are coming from other boroughs,” said Manny Pantiga, founder of the Bronx-based Pantiga Group brokerage. Buyers are pouncing because prices in their own boroughs have gotten too high, he said.
