Manhattan homebuyers are starting to take back control of the seller-friendly market, as condo and co-op sales had a sharp year-over-year decline, 25 percent, the most since 2009.
“Even with New York real estate prices, you do hit a point in which resistance sets in,” said Frederick Peters, CEO of brokerage Warburg Realty. Buyers have become more discerning with their purchases, and less competitive as home price appreciation has slowed down, Bloomberg reports. Pamela Liebman, CEO of brokerage Corcoran Group, says “they’re now aggressive in the opposite way: putting in very low offers and seeing what concessions they can get from the sellers.”
For sellers, to reach a deal in the first quarter was to accept a lower offer. Fifty-two percent of all sales that closed in the period were for less than the last asking price, according to Miller Samuel and Douglas Elliman. Buyers agreed to pay the asking price in 38 percent of deals, but often that figure had already been reduced. Combined, the share of deals without a premium was the biggest since the end of 2012.
