Manhattan home resales rebound first time in a year

Bloomberg

Manhattan home resales climbed for the first time in a year and a half as sellers agreed to lower prices in order to seal deals before inventory and interest rates rise further. Completed purchases of previously owned homes rose 7.7 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, reversing a stretch of five consecutive periods in which resales declined, according to a report released on Tuesday by appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and brokerage Douglas Elliman Real Estate.
Sellers who had been holding fast to ambitious pricing goals are softening their stances as they face the prospect of higher mortgage rates and more listings being added to the Manhattan market. In the three months through March, buyers of resale homes got discounts averaging 4.5 percent off the last asking prices, up from 2.7 percent reductions a year earlier, Miller Samuel and Douglas Elliman said. Discounts also increased for all other property types tracked by the firms — condos, co-ops, new development and luxury homes — as well as for the market as a whole.
“Sellers getting more relaxed with their pricing has certainly helped create a lot more transactions,” said Pamela Liebman, chief executive officer of Corcoran Group, which released its own report on the market Tuesday. “With prices stabilizing, buyers feel that they’re making a safer bet now.” Contracts to buy homes — both resale and in new developments — rose 3 percent in the quarter to 3,009 pending deals, Corcoran Group reported. Buyers, however, took their time to shop around and contemplate their investments. Homes whose sales were completed in the quarter spent an average of 103 days on the market, compared with 89 a year earlier, according to the brokerage.