Welcome to Fall 2020
You made it! If you still have your hair, congrats!
The NYC market is back. After a slow summer, we are starting to see an uptick in activity, and many of our buyers are cautiously approaching the market, making offers and signing contracts when it makes sense. Digs has remained quite busy advising buyers and sellers in these strange times and closed out the quarter with 15 deals in contract and seven accepted offers that should sign up this week (one of which already did!).
As predicted in our Q2 newsletter, inventory is up – way up in many submarkets – and demand, as measured in signed contracts, is not keeping up. Check out the table below for a broad Manhattan market overview (source: UrbanDigs).
Deals are getting done, but far fewer than is typical and not nearly enough to absorb all of this inventory at a healthy pace. While sellers should absolutely expect buyers to negotiate hard in today’s market, extreme low-ball offers are not gaining traction and remain, generally speaking, an ineffective way to approach a negotiation for most unit classes. The 5-10% “Covid discount” (relative to pre-pandemic pricing) that we predicted is, generally speaking, holding true, but more as a useful way of evaluating the broader market and not necessarily a rule to apply to every transaction – in some cases the discount will be more and in some cases it will be less. Comps remain all over the place and we are still in a period of price discovery, awaiting more post-pandemic sales data.
The post-Labor Day market started with a bang, as many buyers came back to the City in search of a larger space more conducive to their new post-Covid reality. As is typical with every post-Labor Day market, with this increase in buyers, came an increase in new listings – many of which were aggressively priced relative to current market inventory, and, accordingly, traded quickly with little to no discount (and, in some cases, over the asking price). But this market is disjointed, as we are also seeing well-priced units with broad appeal sitting with relatively little activity and eager sellers motivated to negotiate just about any offer.
We have also seen significant activity in Brownstone Brooklyn, where the market has barely skipped a beat, as many buyers who no longer have to worry so much about being within a quick commute to their Manhattan offices are taking advantage of the extra space, quieter streets, lower prices and lower carrying costs. One of our sales listings in Cobble Hill sold in excess of our list price, which we based on pre-pandemic sales comps, in about 1 week after we received 4 bids.
As has been widely reported, the Westchester, Long Island and Eastern Queens single family home markets remain extremely hot, as City dwellers continue to decamp to the suburbs, and we are extremely fortunate to have expanded to these markets when we did. But this overheating is not evidence of a mass exodus out of NYC, as some media outlets or politicians might have you believe. Rather, what you are predominantly seeing is the outflow of NYC renters out of Manhattan – many of whom were likely going to move to the suburbs at some point, but the pandemic accelerated their timetable. NYC residential owners who were long on NYC pre-pandemic remain long on NYC and are out there with us every day on the sidewalks and in the parks, enjoying our incredible home and supporting our local businesses.
We Are Hiring!
We have an immediate need for a junior agent to work with us on the majority of our NYC-based deals. This role is perfect for an agent looking to jump start their NYC real estate career and learn everything they need to know by working in a high-volume collaborative team environment. No experience or book of business is necessary, but the right candidate must have a discernible interest in New York City real estate. The candidate must operate with the highest ethical standards and be hard-working, detail-oriented and organized, have strong interpersonal skills and be prepared to work weekends. Entrepreneurial skills and a desire to build a business on our platform are a plus.
We also continue to look for experienced sales agents to join the Digs family. So, if you know any ethical and hard-working agents who are looking to significantly increase their deal volume, and create a more sustainable business for themselves, by selling an alternative platform to a public that is growing increasingly cynical of the traditional brokerage fee structure, please let us know! We would love to meet them, tell them about what we’re doing and see if partnering up makes sense. The perfect candidate would be someone who has transactional experience from working on a team and would like to work their own deals, but has not been able to generate a significant book of business for themselves. With our high splits, our compensation structure is competitive with local brokerage firms, especially in suburban markets.
Please reach out if you or someone you know is interested in joining our family!
Digs Exclusive Sales and Rental Listings:
Check out our currently available exclusive listings. Please be in touch if you’re interested, or forward them along to anyone you know who might be!
205 Third Avenue, 1G
3br/2ba Co-op
Learn more »
310 West 97th Street, #34
2br/2ba Condo
$1,645,000
Learn more » Also Available for Rent at $4,615/mo
Learn more »
49 West 72nd Street, 14CD
2br/2ba Co-op
$1,199,000
PRICE REDUCED
Learn more »
Also Available for Rent at $5,250/mo
Learn more »
15 Broad Street, #702
2br/2ba Condo w/ Private Terrace
Available for Rent at $7,000/mo
Learn more »
|
|
