We published our report on Manhattan market sales for 3Q 2013 this week.   I’ve been writing this series for Douglas Elliman since 1994.

My Take

– Inventory continues to challenge the market, falling to the lowest level since we began tracking it more than 13 years ago.
– Sales surged as fence-sitters rushed in to buy before mortgage rates rose any further, causing the largest market share of co-op sales (62%) in 9-years.
– Sales rose to second highest level in 24 years, the highest since 2007.
– While overall median sales price slipped 2%, it was only due to a shift in mix to smaller sales. Both co-op and condo median sales prices increased year-over-year.
– The 1-bedroom market share of sales reached a 15-year high.
– The combination of surging sales and falling inventory resulted in fastest absorption rate (market pace) on record at 3.6 months.
– The market share of new development closings fell to decade low of 6.2% as finished product continues to be scarce, but the rise in new development activity should reverse this trend in 2014.

Here’s an excerpt from the report:

The third quarter was a period of records and near records in the Manhattan residential apartment market. There were 3,837 sales in the third quarter, 30% higher than the prior year quarter and the second highest total in more than 24 years. The sharp gains in the number of sales likely reflects a release of pent-up demand accumulated over the past several years combined with the concern over rising mortgage rates. The highest level of sales reached was 3,939 in the second quarter of 2007, just over a year before the Lehman tipping point and onset of the global credit crunch in late 2008. Listing inventory also reached a new record by falling 21.9% to 4,567, the lowest level reached since this metric was tracked in 2000…

The charts will be updated shortly but the data tables are already updated to include 3Q 2013.

Here is some of the press coverage for the report.

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The Elliman Report: 3Q 2013 Manhattan Sales [Miller Samuel] The Elliman Report: 3Q 2013 Manhattan Sales [Douglas Elliman]