It Takes Two: Two-Bedroom Manhattan Apartments Back In Vogue

Posted on Mon, 11-29-2010

Pity the poor two-bedroom Manhattan apartment listing. Where once the two-bedroom apartment had once accounted for the largest percentage of NYC condo sales -- logically enough, since two-bedroom apartments are an ideal size for both young professionals and Manhattan-scale families -- this particular Manhattan residential option has experienced something of a downturn over the last few years, even out of proportion with the more general downturn in NYC real estate over the past two years. But with the Manhattan condominium market experiencing a slow but sure turnaround these days, two-bedroom NYC apartments are becoming a hot commodity once more -- a market share that was around 25 percent of the Manhattan apartment scene in '09 is back up to 39 percent, and two-bedroom apartments for sale in NYC are back in demand. The question, now, is why? In the New York Times, Vivian Toy examines the comeback of the Manhattan two-bedroom apartment listing, and comes to a surprising conclusion -- the long buyer's market that played out during the downturn in NYC real estate unexpectedly put three-bedroom Manhattan apartment listings within NYC home buyers' budgets. The result, in the words of Diana Chung, an agent with Mark David & Company, was that “two bedrooms were almost a no man’s land.”Bit as things have stabilized in the Manhattan real estate market, the market for Manhattan two-bedroom condos have stabilized as well. “We’re finally in a period where we’re not dealing with abnormalities with an unusually excessive amount of entry-level or large apartments selling," Jonathan Miller of the appraisal firm Miller Samuel told Toy. "We’re moving toward a more balanced and more normal market.” The on New York City condo listings suggest that activity is up on two-bedroom NYC apartments in general, although the median price of two-bedroom apartments varies from neighborhood to neighborhood. Anecdotally, too, the two-bedroom apartment is back en vogue. Toy reports that open houses for two-bedroom apartment listings have been flooded since the last eight months, largely by young couples from Manhattan without children. While couples who already have one or more children are still hunting for three-bedroom NYC apartments and first-time buyers set their sights set on Manhattan's one-bedroom apartments and studio listings, a new attitude is developing toward two-bedrooms as more and more home buyers look for an apartment large enough to accommodate a growing family. With a host of new construction apartment listings on the market (and ), there is ample supply to meet this newfound demand. All of which means that the two-bedroom NYC apartment is back, and likely headed back to its spot at the top of the NYC apartment market.

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