New York’s new residential developments are struggling to find buyers amid the coronavirus lockdown.
There were only 11 contracts signed at new buildings across the city in the week ending April 26, the lowest level in the city’s history, according to New York-based brokerage CORE NYC, which began tracking the new development market on a weekly basis in late March, in addition to its quarterly reports.
“This is interesting but somehow to be expected,” said Shaun Osher, CEO and founder of CORE NYC. “People are not going to see new apartments since the shutdown.” The contracts signed were mostly because buyers had already seen the property and started negotiating before March, he said.
Three of the contracts were in Manhattan, and eight in Brooklyn. The 11 contracts had a total value of $15.3 million, compared to $35.5 million the week prior, which saw 24 contracts signed, according to the report released Monday.
The new apartments that do sell tend to be at the lower-tier of the high-priced new development market. The most expensive contract last week was a unit at 565 Broome SoHo in Manhattan, asking $4.5 million, according to the report.
Overall, there were 44 property contracts signed across Manhattan in the week ending April 26, according to a separate report released Tuesday by UrbanDigs, a Manhattan property market information provider. The number represented an 83% decline compared to the same period last year.
The number of new listings on the market fell to 59 last week, an 88% decrease from a year ago and also down 20% from the week prior, according to UrbanDigs.
“With at least another two weeks to go on pause, we expect to see inventory continue to shrink as sellers bide their time and wait for an easing of restrictions in order to start the process needed to properly enter the market,” said Noah Rosenblatt of UrbanDigs.