NYC Real Estate Market Begins to Cool, But Rents Remain High
Home prices fell last month in what may finally be a right-sizing of the market.
New Yorkers looking for relief from the city's notoriously expensive housing may finally be getting a bit of good news.
StreetEasy reports that the city's real estate market is beginning to cool down after a year of aggressive price increases caused by residents flocking back to NYC as the city reopened from its pandemic shutdowns. With rising mortgage rates increasing borrowing costs, demand has grown the most for homes priced under $500,000, while expensive real estate priced at $1.5 million or above has seen less interest and fewer contracts signed.
According to the real estate website's analysis, this puts downward pressure on prices. The median asking price for new listings fell by .08% in July after stagnating in June. Prices likely peaked in May at a median of around $1 million and are poised to come down more, although they're unlikely to crash significantly. In-contract sales declined for the fourth straight month, and homes sat on the market for 12 days longer in July than June, reflecting a steeper-than-usual slowdown for late summer sales.
The same can't be said for the city's rental market, which remains in record-high territory. This month's Elliman Report showed new records for average and median rents across Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn. A recent StreetEasy report showed that apartment inventories are finally rising after a period of constrained supply. Unfortunately, many of those vacancies result from expiring pandemic deals, with priced-out residents creating a ripple effect that has pushed up rents in less-expensive neighborhoods, too. In fact, the pricey rental market may be pushing more people to consider buying.
To learn more about the state of the real estate market and look at pricing by neighborhood, check out StreetEasy's full report here.