NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--TOWN Residential, Manhattan’s premier luxury real estate services firm, is pleased to release its Quarterly Aggregate Report™ Q1 which is now live on TOWN’s website, and included here. This quarter focused on the large increase in Manhattan real estate prices in comparison to previous quarters.
Fewer apartments were priced below $1 million, and an increase in apartments priced above $1 million led to overall market price increases nearly across the board. In conjunction, days on the market decreased by approximately 10 percent market-wide, but the inventory shortage showed the first signs of letting up, albeit slightly, as the absorption rate increased up to 3.99 months of supply.
For this quarter, market-wide average prices increased by approximately 14 percent, primarily due to an increase in the sales of high-end condominiums in terms of both the percentage and prices of such sales.
The luxury market also drove prices up this quarter, with the greatest average pricing increases among all product types.
Damien Parker, TOWN’s Chief Statistician, said year-over-year percentage increases should be taken with a grain of salt, since the first quarter of 2013 was a period of significant price declines.
“This quarter we saw a continued upswing in Manhattan real estate prices,” said Parker. “This is particularly noticeable in the year-over-year numbers. However, it is important to remember that the first quarter of 2013 had fewer high-end sales than any other quarter in quite some time. Hence, that period saw significant downward pricing trends. So these year-over percentage increases should be looked at with that perspective in mind.”
Parker also authored TOWN’s March issue of Economics at a Glance™, detailing trends noticed last month in the real estate market, which is also attached and live on TOWN’s homepage.
The Fixed Rate Mortgage this month continued to increase up to 4.4 percent, while unemployment in New York City rose to 7.9 percent. Parker also found that the Case-Shiller Condo Index increased by approximately 10 percent year-over-year.
“For the first time in a long while, we saw some increased trading activity in the NYSE,” Parker said. “Thus far, 2014 is off to a good start all-around.”
ABOUT TOWN RESIDENTIAL
Launched by Founders Joseph Sitt and Andrew Heiberger in December, 2010, TOWN is a top-ranked fully integrated Manhattan real estate services firm specializing in luxury residential sales, rentals, and the marketing of new development sales and rentals. An integral part of the New York real estate landscape, TOWN has a team that exceeds 600 licensed professionals and staff, with the capacity for 630, in ten neighborhood offices: TOWN Greenwich Village, at 530 LaGuardia Place; TOWN SoHo, a landmarked corner storefront at 337 West Broadway dating to 1886; TOWN 79th Street, a corner storefront at 239 East 79th Street on the Upper East Side; TOWN West Village, a trophy office at 446 West 14th Street; TOWN Astor Place, a block-front space overlooking historic Astor Place in the Gwathmey Siegel-designed Sculpture for Living at 26 Astor Place; TOWN Fifth Avenue, located in the prestigious Crown Building at 730 Fifth Avenue at 57th Street; TOWN Flatiron, located at 110 Fifth Avenue and 16th Street; TOWN Greenwich Street, nestled in heart of the Financial District at 88 Greenwich Street; and TOWN Gramercy Park and the corporate team at TOWN Residential, both located at historic 33 Irving Place. For more information about these offices and TOWN Residential, visit: www.townrealestate.com.
