Contracts Signed Report - February 2021

In deconstructing the data from February’s sales activity, I am struck by a few compelling data points which show where the market is most healthy...see below

• 60% of all condo contracts were at or below $3M, proving the luxury condo market is still depressed but the ‘prosaic’ condo market doing well

• 40% of all condo contracts were btwn $1-2M, which is a curiously limited bracket, meaning most condo buyers were buying smaller and older 2BRs OR newer, larger 1BRs

• the avg sales price for condos was $2.929M, up from $2.826M in Feb ‘20

• the avg sales price for coops was $1.452M, up from $1.226M in Feb ‘20

• only 14% of coop sales were at $2M and above, showing that there is still minimal movement within the larger ‘family’ apt demo

• the East side is beating out the West for transactions, comprising 29% of all contracts opposed to 20% for the West side

• the West side seems to be holding pricing more firmly than the East, but transacting less frequently, which is an unexpected shift

• Downtown sales comprised only 33% of contracts, whereas the remaining 67% across uptown/midtown are the bulk of what’s moving

• Brooklyn is thriving, with over twice as many contracts signed Feb ‘21 over prior year (both condo and coop)

• Condos $2M-4M in Brooklyn received 3x as many contracts YOY

• The single-family Townhouse market in Brooklyn is off the hook, with almost 5x as many signed contracts YOY with the sweetspot of $2-4M homes comprising 40% of all signed contracts

Anecdotally, our team is equally busy in both the condo and coop spheres but we notice the coop market moving more efficiently with lesser discounts off of last asking price. The condo deals on the buy side are more aggressive, but not as frequently as one might expect—many condo owners are still leasing their apts out, waiting for better markets. The Brooklyn market is obviously the one to jump into as the BK submarkets are among the few actually appreciating through the pandemic.