Contract activity, or the number of signed contracts, is up 3.1% year over year, but remains 7.8% below the monthly historical average, showing that the market is still performing below typical seasonal levels.
The median sales price for a Manhattan apartment is $1.23M, reflecting a 1.2% increase compared to a year ago. The supply, or the number of units available on the market, has decreased by 2.2% annually.
Meanwhile, pending sales—units under contract—have risen by 18.7% year over year. As a result, the Market Pulse, which represents the pending-to-active ratio, stands at 0.51, indicating a balanced market.

Currently, above 0.5 is considered favorable to the seller, and below 0.3 is favorable to the buyer.

Luxury Segment

During the week ending July 13th, 19 contracts were signed for Manhattan properties priced at $4 million and above, one more than the previous week. The total weekly asking price sales volume was $161,744,998, with a median asking price of $6,795,000. The average discount from the original to the last asking price was 7%.

The top contract of the week was the 15th floor of 825 Fifth Avenue, a co-op asking $34.75 million, reduced from $37 million since December. The apartment is a full-floor residence with 3 bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms, two fireplaces, and sweeping Central Park views.

Rental Market

The median rent reached a new record last month at $4,625, increasing by 7.6% year over year and setting the fourth new high in five months. The number of new lease signings rose by 7.8%, while listing inventory increased by 4.4% compared to last year.

Bidding wars accounted for 25% of all rental deals: one in four leases closed above the landlord’s asking price, with an average overpayment of 11.2%.

(data source: UrbanDigs, Olshan, Miller Samuel, picture: Nelson Ndongala)