By Orlando Rodriguez
Pricing cuts of available Manhattan condominiums has an East Side lean for 2013, as the majority of adjustments have been distributed among five East Side neighborhoods.
91 percent of all price cuts in the borough during the second quarter took place in either Murray Hill, Carnegie Hill, Sutton Place, Lenox Hill or Yorkville, according to StreetEasy, pointing possible to continued market change where once the tony neighborhoods on the East Side have fallen out of fashion among the nouveau-riche.
Of the deepest cuts amongst their properties, Central Park South experienced an average discount of 7.3 percent of the purchase price. The Beekman neighborhood, just north of the United Nations, saw an average price drop of 7.5 percent. Upper East Side condos price drops averaged 6.2 percent while UES co-ops averaged 6.7 percent.
Unit 30A at 211 Madison Avenue experienced the deepest price cut of all properties in Manhattan, dropping $1.5 million dollars, from $3.7 million to $2.2 million in the last three months, according to StreetEasy.
Brokerage Brown Harris Stevens saw a 34 percent drop in prices for sales of units above 3 bedrooms on the Upper East Side, according to BHS quarterly market reports.
Overall, however, sale prices generally were up according to different brokerages market reports. Douglas-Elliman saw a 5.2 percent price increase for co-ops and condos during the second quarter according to Miller Samuel.
Downtown continued to see robust activity as prices increased an average of 7.8 percent per square foot in the area according to Douglas Elliman. Meanwhile Brown Harris Stevens saw a 16 percent price increase for its Downtown studios and a 33 percent rise in price for its three bedroom co-ops and condos below 34th Street.
Co-ops are not faring as well as condos, with the average price of the asset class falling by 11 percent during the 2nd quarter, according to Brown Harris Stevens.
Industry experts say that part of the reason for the price falls are apartments being adjusted for the market because they have been initially priced out of scope by overzealous sellers.
“When apartments are properly priced they are selling quickly,” said Hall. F. Willkie, president of Brown Harris Stevens Residential Sales. “While there is great demand and small supply, buyers are reluctant to pay a price that is not justifiable.”
