NYC Daily Real Estate Blog

We've devoted many pixels here at the New Construction Manhattan blog to the buyer-friendly trends in the market for NYC condos, and with good reason -- this is a pretty excellent time to be buying a condominium in Manhattan, for a myriad of reasons. That said, a look at the prices for NYC condos at present might make it seem like the buyer's market in NYC real estate is... well, not nearly buyer-friendly enough. And it might indeed seem that way, were you to look at the prices for, say, condos on the Upper West Side or Upper East Side. But the most important thing to note is this: per a recent report at The Real Deal, no one is actually paying those prices. In fact, most condos for sale in Manhattan are currently selling for somewhere between five and 30 percent less than their list prices. Why is this?

Buying a condominium in Manhattan is not easy. If there's one thing you'll hear from friends who've gone about purchasing a Manhattan apartment or NYC condo, it's that. But if there's one thing we keep going over here at the New Construction Manhattan blog, it's that buying NYC condos doesn't have to be quite as difficult as it is -- if you ask the right questions and work with the right real estate agent, buying an apartment in Manhattan can be satisfying and maybe even enjoyable. But, as proven in a new report at The Real Deal on the radically imprecise science of calculating the square footage of condominiums for sale, buying a condominium in Manhattan isn't easy.

We hear the term "buyer's market" so often of late in reference to the current real estate market that it's easy, at times, to forget just what it means. The phrase itself isn't tough to decipher, of course: buyers of NYC condos have an advantage over sellers of NYC condos at present. But a new report from Zillow.com indicates the real-world effects -- the very positive real world effects, at least for those looking into buying a Manhattan apartment -- of the current buyer's market in Manhattan real estate. On average, Manhattan apartment buyers paid a whopping five percent less than the last listed price on NYC condos in January. That's a savings of over $20,000 per purchase, on average.

Buying an apartment or condo is a big decision, wherever said apartment or condo is located. But when we're talking about NYC condos, both the level of investment on your part and the competition on the lender's part are amped up considerably. The New York City real estate market can be a tough place, of course, but choosing to work with a trustworthy real estate agent and educating yourself on the rules of the mortgage game are good ways to make buying a Manhattan apartment that much simpler. The New Construction Manhattan Broker Network is a good way to ensure that you'll find a knowledgeable agent, of course; reading Ken Harney's piece at The Real Deal on the importance of the government-mandated "Good Faith Estimate" (or GFE) is a good way to get started on the educating-yourself thing.

We've been watching 15 Union Square West -- a new construction luxury condominium in Greenwich Village on, yes, Union Square West -- for some time. 15 Union Square West's distinctive look (it's a glassy condo, but one that incorporates facade from the circa-1870 Tiffany and Co. building it has replaced), prime Greenwich Village location and luxurious condominiums are, after all, the sort of things that interest us here at New Construction Manhattan. The question was never whether the condos for sale at 15 Union Square West were going to be impressive; the question was when we'd finally get a look at them. The answer, it seems, is "quite soon."