December closed out a complicated 2022 with the comforting return of some recognizable patterns. As balance returns to the buying process, we’re reminded of our favorite thing about real estate: There is always opportunity. Whether you’re buying or selling, our team at ESPINAL|ADLER can help assess your individual situation to find where that opportunity is for you. It may not be where you expect it and that both keeps things interesting and is why we recap the previous month’s market activity for you each month.
In Manhattan, activity has slowed since the pandemic, particularly in the luxury market. December inked 36 percent fewer co-op contracts and 57 percent fewer condo contracts than December 2021. Month over month, the total number of signed contracts declined in December for the first time in three months. While the number of new listings also decreased, they only fell about half as far. That’s in part to a large swath of unsold inventory still on the market at some of the borough’s top-tier development projects. The fourth quarter notched 2,546 sales, just 6.5 percent below the fourth quarter decade average, indicating that the sharp decline in transactions we saw throughout 2022 was only sharp compared to the boom of 2021.
In December in Brooklyn, new listings fell annually for the second consecutive quarter, which continued to overpower the rate of newly signed contracts. And while newly signed contracts fell month over month for the third time in four months, they were substantially higher than the period before the pandemic. Just like Manhattan, activity is not actually slowing as much as it appears. Similarly, the median sale price declined year over year for the first time in two years but was still the third highest on record. Townhouses remained the top preference as historic townhomes marked two of Brooklyn’s largest sales of the month.
In Westchester, newly signed contracts fell month over month for the seventh time, and the decline in new listings outpaced the market’s activity just like the rest of New York. Year over year, contracts for single-family homes fell from 346 in 2021 to 221 in 2022. Price gains in the county also slowed, despite inventory declining for the fourteenth straight quarter. Also in December, the Mount Pleasant Town Board unanimously approved zoning for a 3-million-square-foot science and technology center. With expected costs of $1.2 billion, the campus—which is expected to include shops, a hotel, a conference center, restaurants, and public spaces—will be the largest economic development project in the county’s history and will undoubtedly have an impact on the local real estate market.
In Miami, the story is a little different. Newly signed contracts declined monthly for the fourth consecutive month and new listings are entering the market at less than half the rate of the same period before the pandemic… but the luxury market continues to surge. As waterfront and non-waterfront properties alike have set records and prices hold steady despite a cooling market, Miami is predicted to be the world’s second-best luxury market in 2023.