Big Apple, big price tags: A new report finds that average Manhattan apartment prices have cracked the $2 million mark for the first time.
Douglas Elliman Real Estate, which produces the quarterly report with appraisal firm Miller Samuel, found that the average price of a Manhattan condo or co-op in the first quarter of 2016 rose by just over 18 percent from a year earlier, to $2,051,321. The median price of $1,137,500 was an increase of roughly 17 percent from a year ago.
Elliman said increased closings of new, high-end condos and co-ops — for which contracts were signed a few years ago — were responsible for the jump. The report noted that new apartment sales shot up 94 percent from a year earlier, and that new construction made up almost two-thirds of all luxury apartment sales, which Elliman defines as the top 10 percent of the market.
While the median resale price was $950,000, buyers of newly built apartments paid a median price of $2,606,720, a nearly 27 percent jump from the prior quarter and an increase of roughly a million dollars — more than 60 percent — from a year ago. The report added that the resale median price of Manhattan condos and co-ops — which is up about 7 percent from a year earlier — is more reflective of the market overall.
While that $950,000 resale median might be more reflective of the Manhattan housing market, it’s still light-years away from the kinds of prices most Americans expect to pay for a home. According to Zillow, the median home value in the United States is just under $185,000, and the median sales price is $208,226.
[Source:- NBC news]
