Due to the coronavirus situation across the country and the factors of life in the city, almost 10,000 apartment units remain unsold in Manhattan in the third quarter as sales plummet by 46%, real estate analysts report. Real estate observers said many house buyers are shifting attention from Manhattan to Florida and outsides of New York City.
With thousands of houses to sell in Manhattan and very little buyers, the inventory of unsold houses continues to rise with new listings being added on a daily basis. There was already an abundance of unsold apartments and properties before the coronavirus pandemic came, and analysts say it may take up to three years before the current number of listed properties is fully sold off.
“There is no shortage of apartments for sale, but there is a shortage of buyers,” said Jonathan Miller, CEO of Miller Samuel.
Miller noted that a total of 1,375 sales were recorded in the third quarter of this year, a reduction by 44% of what was recorded for the third quarter last year. He also added that it is very unsure that sales will pick up before the November 3 presidential election, saying that completed building purchases for September dropped by 42% as against what obtained the same month in 2019.
With the way things are going in Manhattan – high unemployment rate, increased crimes, transportation problems, rising taxes, expensiveness of building facilities, and unsanitary building conditions – many potential apartment buyers are moving elsewhere for their investments. Meanwhile, city experts say only about 10% of office workers in the city are returning to the buildings to work at this time because of the uncertainties in Manhattan.
“If you look at 2009 and then September 11, the sellers can take a few years to adjust,” Miller said. “But that all depends on quality-of-life issues like policing sanitation, and public transportation. I don’t see an improvement in the market in the fourth quarter. But I think we could see a notable improvement in 2021.”
Source: cnbc.com
