While the average sale price of a condo unit on the Lower East Side plummeted between the first and second quarters of 2016, it rose citywide during the same period, according to a Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) report released this week.
REBNY has been tracking sales data for one-to-three family dwellings, condominiums and coop units in the five boroughs since 2006.
According to the report, the average sale price of a home (including all three home types) in New York City reached an all-time high of $1,018,000 in the second quarter of 2016. Sales at “some of Manhattan’s most expensive, new condominium buildings” drove the average price to the new record.
Indeed, average condominium sales price rose more than any other home type – a 19% increase from 2016’s first quarter to the second (compared with a meager 4% rise for one-t0-three family dwellings and a 2% decrease in coop sale prices during the same period).
Meanwhile on the Lower East Side, the average sale price of a condo unit dropped 67% between the first and second quarters of 2016 – from $3.7 million to $1.2 million. It’s the sharpest decrease of any neighborhood in any borough.
While the numbers look dramatic, they should be kept in perspective. The Lower East Side condo market is still small compared with other neighborhoods in the city, so a handful of sales can change the numbers significantly. There have been less than 50 total condo sales here in the last 12 months, according to Streeteasy.
There will, however, be a lot more condo sales on the LES in the next few years.
Condominium units at Essex Crossing are set to go on the market this fall, Extell’s 80-story luxury condo tower on Cherry Street is under construction and Cogswell Realty is planning to build condos at 150 Rivington, the former Streit’s Matzo Factory building. Sales have already begun for that project.
