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Fast Money & Foreign Objects
ByMICHELLE HIGGINSAPRIL 18, 2014
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$995,000 — GRAMERCY STUDIO A small space steps from Gramercy Park, and the apartment has its own key.CreditLinda Jaquez for The New York Times
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$995,000 — GRAMERCY STUDIO A small space steps from Gramercy Park, and the apartment has its own key.CreditLinda Jaquez for The New York Times
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- Manhattanlast fall. She soon realized just how limited her options were.
“For a while, we were determined to acquire the large two-bedroom in the back of a building on Fifth Avenue,” said Ms. Marx, a staff writer at The New Yorker who is looking for a larger space with her boyfriend, Paul Roossin, a scientist and tech entrepreneur. “The apartment’s asking price was within my range, $995, but the board required you to have amassed three times as much money in your bank account as the purchase price.
“In other words,” she said, “you had to demonstrate that you were someone who would never want the apartment you claimed to want.”
The couple found a charming five-story walk-up in Gramercy, but the second bedroom “required scaling what was more ladder than staircase,” she said. “It is the perfect apartment for Heidi or for someone who plans never to leave.”
Then there was the chic one-bedroom, two-bathroom in the Flatiron district. “I went to check it out but it was taken before I got off the subway,” she said.
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An exterior view of the Gramercy studio.CreditLinda Jaquez for The New York Times
As Ms. Marx quickly learned, rising prices and an ongoing scarcity of listings mean that buyers in the million-dollar price range are increasingly out of luck or forced to make major compromises.
Low inventory, high demand and a shift toward larger units in new luxury developments pushed the median sale price for a Manhattan apartment to $972,428 in the first quarter of the year, up 18.5 percent over the same period last year, according to a report by the Douglas Elliman brokerage firm.
That’s just 5 percent below the peak of $1,025,000 in the second quarter of 2008 — the only time the median has crossed the $1 million threshold.
Eventually, Ms. Marx went into contract on a two-bedroom, two-bath with a lovely view in the Sutton Place area that was listed for $995,000. “The apartment is a wreck,” she said, noting a crumbling bathroom, gaping holes covered with blue tarp and a vintage oven. With an impending renovation, she expects to pay at least $1.2 million in all. “I convinced myself I was dealing with play money,” said Ms. Marx, who recently listed her current home, a graciousone-bedroom corner uniton East 88th Street in Carnegie Hill for $975,000. “A million dollars to me still seems like an unfathomable amount of money.”
Part of the problem for buyers is that new supply isn’t growing fast enough to meet the demand for apartments priced at $1 million or less.
“Below a million is like a dying breed,” said Jonathan J. Miller, the author of Elliman’s report and the president of the appraisal firm Miller Samuel.
Apartments for $1 million or less still make up the bulk of the Manhattan market, but that piece of the pie has shrunk significantly. About 52 percent of sales in Manhattan in the first quarter were below $1 million, compared with 60 percent for the same period a year ago, according to Mr. Miller. A decade ago, 71 percent of all Manhattan sales were below $1 million.
In the first three months of the year, 4,692 apartments were for sale for $1 million or less, down about 20 percent from the same period last year, according to Streeteasy, which tracks the listings of most Manhattan brokerage firms. Three years ago, 8,014 units were on the market for $1 million or less in the first quarter.
This turn of events is disappointing buyers with a nest egg that would buy a mansion in many parts of the country. The national median sale price, which tends to be a more stable measure of market prices than the average price, is $194,400, according to data from Zillow.
Just how tough is it to find something for $1 million or less in Manhattan right now? Consider a snapshot of apartments in that price range taken earlier this month by Streeteasy.
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$975,000 — CARNEGIE HILL ONE-BEDROOM A full-service building that is just down the block from the Guggenheim Museum.CreditEmily Andrews for The New York Times
The neighborhoods with the most apartments for $1 million or less were the Upper West Side, which had 167 listings; Yorkville, 140; Lenox Hill, 126; the Upper East Side, 115; and Murray Hill, 112. Of those, the majority were studios and one-bedrooms. The studios ranged from a compact but nicely staged studio in an elevator building with a doorman,205 East 78th Street, No. 4E, listed by Corcoran for $395,000; to a pristine studio listed by Stribling at3 Gramercy Park Westfor $995,000. (The price includes a coveted key to the park, directly across the street.)
Moving up in size, an “estate condition” one-bedroom,565 West End Avenue, No. 7E, was listed for $899,000 by Halstead Property.
Practically nothing was available for $1 million or less in hot neighborhoods like NoLIta (2), TriBeCa (4), Central Park South (5), Flatiron (16), SoHo (17) or the West Village (23).
Sure, those who search hard enough may find gems, but they tend to be snapped up quickly, attract bidding wars or come with major financial constraints. A one-bedroom with a fireplace, a washer/dryer and a lovely bi-level garden listed by Halstead Property is available for $995,000 at353 East 50th Street. “We had offers but it ended up that an all-cash purchase is preferred,” said Wigder Frota, the listing broker.
Central Harlem had the most two-bedrooms of any neighborhood, 45 earlier this month, according to Streeteasy. Two-bedrooms below 96th were often in need of major renovation or involved compromises.
For instance, a move-in condition two-bedroom in Turtle Bay islisted for $995,000 with Halstead Property. Pros include central air-conditioning, capacious closets and a view of theChrysler Buildingfrom one of the bedrooms. The con: The living room and kitchen look out on a brick wall.
With few exceptions, said Alan Lightfeldt, a data analyst with Streeteasy, “you won’t find anything bigger than a two-bedroom below 96th Street.” Buyers in search of three-bedrooms, he said, found the most in Central Harlem (14) and Washington Heights (13).
But be prepared for competition. Kim Martin-Shah, an agent with Douglas Elliman, recently listed a three-bedroom, two-and-half bath at2292 Frederick Douglass Boulevardfor $975,000. Eighty-seven prospective buyers came to the first open house earlier this month, not counting people who chose not to sign in.
“It was madness,” Ms. Martin-Shah said. Brokers huddled in corners, strategizing with clients while a woman with an iPhone showed the apartment to her spouse via video chat and a family traded off a crying child in order to tour the space. “We had multiple offers by the next day,” she said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/20/r...mst=1388552400000&bicmet=1420088400000&_&_r=0
status especially the ones in the Bronx and Brooklyn.