NYC Daily Real Estate Blog

There's a scene in the otherwise not-so-good horror flick Dark Water that packs a solid laugh for New York City real estate watchers. Well, several scenes if you're the sort who finds the idea of haunted bathtubs amusing, but the one we're thinking of is when John C. Reilly's real estate agent proudly describes a Roosevelt Island apartment building (spoiler alert: it's haunted) to Jennifer Connelly as featuring "brutalist school" design. Which, as much as we love newer Roosevelt Island condo listings like the elegant Riverwalk, is certainly a fair enough way to describe the East Berlin-style retail strip (above) that runs down the center of Roosevelt Island. While the community's quiet, city-within-a-city vibe is a big part of what makes Roosevelt Island apartments appealing, no one will mourn the passing of those identical, charmless facades. The good news, of course, is that those facades are indeed on their way out -- Roosevelt Island Operating Company is soliciting bids for a company to give that drab main street a long-overdue makeover that could make this loveliest of non-Manhattan Manhattan neighborhoods that much more appealing.

We say it seemingly every day: the statistics all indicate that the market for NYC condos is better than it has been in a long time, and improving every quarter. And yet, as you surely know if you've even walked past a newspaper over the last year or so, people in this world -- and in New York City -- are pretty hacked off. About... well, name it. Fantastically irresponsible, totally trumped-up real estate scandals that play loathsomely to the smallest-minded among us? Yeah, we've got that. But there are legitimate causes for concern in this world and city of ours, and the broader uncertainties of the national and global economy are among them. So while we can tell the world, several times weekly, that the Manhattan condominium market is going strong and that NYC condos remain a really great investment, it stands to reason that a city that's even more on edge than usual, people are a little more jittery about buying an apartment. Or it could be that people are just kind of difficult. At any rate, according to The New York Times, brokers, sellers and buyers have entered a new era of contentiousness. To which we at the New Construction Manhattan blog would like to say, without qualification or any quantitative evidence: nice try, but no.

It seems like we spend all our time here at the New Construction Manhattan blog sussing out the shape and size and seriousness of the ongoing Manhattan real estate recovery. Which, you know, is reasonable enough of us, given that this is a blog about NYC condos and Manhattan real estate and such. But this fine-grain focus on the present -- and attendant anxiousness to find positive indications for the future in the still-anxious present-day state of Manhattan real estate -- can sometimes limit our perspective somewhat. Not just as regards the recovery, and the search for omens and signs indicating the existence thereof, but to the basic elements of Manhattan real estate itself. All the more reason to enjoy architecture critic Jayne Merkel's piece in the New York Times on the one objective lasting benefit of the last Manhttan real estate boom -- the addition of numerous beautiful and architecturally distinguished new construction luxury condos to the Manhattan skyline. That we have many of those NYC condo listings here at New Construction Manhattan is probably worth mentioning, too, but... anyway, let's get to Merkel.

It's sometimes said that Manhattan luxury condominiums sell themselves, and a trip through our Manhattan condo listings will surely bear that out for a few NYC apartment buildings. But it's just an expression, finally, and most NYC luxury condos -- even the best of the best -- don't necessarily sell themselves. Yes, the Manhattan apartment market is surging, but with real estate watchers concerned about a double dip in the housing market and the local and national economies still sputtering, the investment of money and confidence required in buying a Manhattan condominium is no small thing. In reality, most NYC condos require no small amount of selling, which is where price cuts come from, among other things. Recently, developers have hit upon a new -- and, for once, very factual and very useful -- new marketing tool. That would be the approval of the Federal Housing Administration.

Those who read the New Construction Manhattan blog with any regularity are familiar with the fact that the market for NYC condos is in the midst of what appears to be a pretty spectacular rally after some rough years. Really, anyone who reads about NYC real estate anywhere is probably aware of this -- those years were pretty rough, the rally is pretty impressive, and most everyone who has anything to do with Manhattan apartment sales is happier than they've been in years. One odd detail about the Manhattan real estate recovery, which we wrote about last week, is the way in which Manhattan condo prices have stayed flat while sales volume has soared. That strange, buyer-friendly quirk in the Manhattan condo market got that much less anecdotal with the latest round of information from ResidentialNYC.com, which confirms that second quarter ">Manhattan condo sales did indeed spike, with only a relatively modest spike in prices.