With a view of luxury values in residential buildings along the nickname Milliardair Row, a distance of the 57th Street, in which the majority of Supertall luxury turrets in Manhattan hold in New York City in Manhattan on May 16, 2022.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images News | Getty pictures
Sales with the apartments in Manhattan rose by 29%in the first quarter compared to the same period in the previous year, when the rich applied for refuge from volatile shares to buy real estate.
According to a report by the real estate appraiser Miller Samuel and Brokerage Douglas Elliman, 2,560 closed sales were achieved in a quarter of 1,988 a year ago. The total value of apartment sales increased even more and reached 56% in the same quarter of the previous year.
The strength was largely powered by the upper end of the market and the luxury properties. According to the Brokerage Compass, the turnover of apartments at a price of over 5 million US dollars rose by 49% before a previous year. The ultra-high end or the real estate at a price of $ 20 million or more had the best first quarter since 2019, said Compass.
“This is largely isolated by mortgage rate fluctuations and driven by portfolio diversification strategies. This shows the renewed trust among luxury buyers and underlines the wider assets of generational assets,” said Compass.
Since the ultra-rich tend to buy apartments in cash without needing a mortgage, they were deterred less by constantly high interest rates. 58% of sales in the quarter were all bar, with the more expensive apartments (over $ 3 million) recorded 90% of the sales of all-cash buyers.
The weakest market segment was what brokers consider as the “middle market” of Manhattan Real Estate or real estate between $ 1 million and $ 3 million. According to the Compass, the signed contracts for these properties decreased by 10%, while the real estate at the lower end of between 500,000 and 1 million US dollars.
Brokers say that the renewed strength of real estate in Manhattan is powered by both macro and micro forces.
While Manhattan's real estate market has long been connected to the stock exchange, the turnover of apartments in the financial markets for jobs and assets, which are decoupled in the first quarter, decoupled from the volatile performance of shares. Brokers say that the uncertain prospects for shares make real estate and hard assets more attractive, especially in first -class asset markets such as Manhattan.
They also say that Back-to-Office mandates from large banks and other companies bring wealthy buyers back more permanently to the city. The emergence of the “Boomerang WEALTHY” – those who have moved to spots like Florida during the pandemic and are now returning to New York – also increases sales.
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“There is a noticeable movement of people who return from Florida and move from Los Angeles,” said real estate agent Charlie Attia's of Compass.
The “big transfer of assets” also drives sales. With trillion dollars that pass from baby boomers to their children and relatives, the brokers say that a growing number of buyers are wealthy parents who buy with funds from a trust or family office.
“We see a remarkable increase in activities from family offices, of which many real estate preserves as long -term old assets,” said real estate agent Cindy Scholz from Compass.
Admittedly, the sales that was closed in the first quarter were usually signed and negotiated months before, so that March's uncertainty in the markets and the economy may not be reflected in the numbers.
The first quarter of 2024 was unusually slow and, according to Jonathan Miller, CEO of Miller Samuel, became more attractive in the first quarter of 2025. Despite the increase in sales by 29%, sales of the total amount were only 1.1% better than the historical average in the past ten years, he said.
In March, which will be a predictor of sales in the coming quarter, this was also strong, especially for luxury. According to Douglas Elliman, the signed contracts for apartments in March tripled in March.
“It is clear that Manhattan's market not only keeps calm – he blooms,” said Pamela Liebman, President and CEO of Corcoran.