Welcome to the fourth quarter of 2015! It has been a doozy of a year so far, marked by high demand, tight credit markets and even tighter inventory. Truth be told, September was slightly slower than expected, but keep in mind that’s on the heels of a healthier than expected summer. We’re regrouping during this little breathing period and are bracing ourselves for a robust year-end.
Everywhere we go, wherever we see brokers, we can’t help notice their long faces. They just can’t find that new property for their prospective buyers. It can be disheartening even for those most experienced. Quality property is rapidly swooped up, making it that much more important to be in a position to make a strong offer as soon as buyers begin looking.
The current stock market volatility is not being particularly helpful in getting sellers or buyers to act, as both sides are processing recent stock market, international and political news. Alas, it’s just another September. Interestingly, the plethora of news coming from every which way is not actually playing out in the numbers. You’d expect to see some plateau or perhaps dip in on-the-ground trends but it’s not what we’re seeing. We’re still breaking records on median prices, both in purchases and rentals. We believe this to be due to the continued magnetism of NYC as a robust and resilient real estate market and a safe haven for many individuals.
We anticipate that the fourth quarter will be healthy as real estate participants make sense of this volatility and get comfortable with it.
