Buyers still hunting $50m trophies in the Big Apple.Stribling Private Brokerage, a division of Stribling & Associates, notes continued low inventory and rising prices in the first half of 2007 for the luxury residential market in Manhattan Manhattan, indigenous people of North America Manhattan (mănhăt`ən), indigenous people of North America of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). , along with record breaking sales of trophy properties, several at or above $50 million. "$50 million is the new $30 million," says Kirk Henckels, executive vice president & director of Stribling Private Brokerage, author of the report. Henckels predicts that, when the financial markets stabilize stabilize See peg. , the residential real estate markets will remain strong due to the lack of supply and the sheer amount of liquidity, albeit reduced, among purchasers worldwide. "Without appropriate inventory levels, it does not matter how much money and demand there might be in a market," said Henckels. "The lack of supply puts a damper damp·er n. 1. One that deadens, restrains, or depresses: Rain put a damper on our picnic plans. 2. An adjustable plate, as in the flue of a furnace or stove, for controlling the draft. on the number of sales while forcing prices up. And there continues to be an extraordinary amount of wealth in this market, despite the current fluctuations" The report cites a number of market facts: * There has been a drastic drop in the $5 million and up cooperative inventory--with even wealthy buyers finding limited choices in the market * Many of the biggest deals have not closed yet--thus market strength may not be fully revealed until the last half of 2007 * The highest priced townhouse town·house or town house n. 1. A residence in a city. 2. A row house, especially a fashionable one. sale in the first six months of 2007 was downtown, a first for Manhattan * The lack of inventory has caused the volume of transactions over $5 million to drop for both cooperatives and townhouses, unlike the under $5 million end of the market where transaction volume has increased * The downtown luxury residential market has increased its parity parity or space parity, in physics, quantity that refers to the relationship between an object or process and the image that it can produce in a mirror. with uptown--another first for Manhattan * The Manhattan buyers market has been driven by record amounts of liquidity--dominated by hedge fund hedge fund, in finance, a highly speculative, largely unregulated investment device. Originating in the 1950s, the funds "hedge" by offsetting "short" positions (borrowing a security and then selling it at a higher price before repaying the lender) against "long" and Wall Street professionals * The outlook for the final quarter of 2007 will depend on stabilizing stabilizing, v to hold a limb motionless in order to ground its energy; a standard isometric resistance technique, it releases tension and lengthens muscle fibers. the currently volatile credit markets and a continued positive economy. "The Manhattan residential market has continued to break records while most of the US markets have suffered. But Manhattan is an international city and should be compared with London, not Mid-America," said Henckels. |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion