Average prices decreased for Manhattan’s new developments for the second straight quarter, according to a second quarter report by Halstead Property Development Marketing.
The average price of a unit that went into contract between April and June fell 2.1% quarter-over-quarter to $2,172 per square foot, according to the report released Thursday. New York City’s housing market has seen a trend toward affordability, even in the luxury sector, where homes priced under $6 million have sold more briskly and with fewer price reductions than homes priced at eight figures or more.
More:Check Out News in the Luxury Manhattan Market
Reasonably priced condos in Brooklyn and Harlem—in addition to those in not-so affordable downtown Manhattan—saw the strongest activity among new developments.
"We are seeing that two-bedroom units in Brooklyn are more efficiently sized than two-bedrooms in Manhattan, and are selling incredibly well," said Stephen G. Kliegerman, president of Halstead Property Development Marketing.
Mr. Kliegerman pointed to projects at 50 Greenpoint Ave., 610 Warren St. and 251 First St. in Brooklyn—all of which have units selling for between just under $1 million to $2 million—as examples of developments that are moving fast.
There’s been a "huge demand for well-designed, efficiently sized and accessibly priced homes, and we expect more projects in the pipeline to be built like this," he said in the report.
Meanwhile, Harlem experienced the largest quarter-over-quarter price increase in Manhattan in terms of price per square foot—outside of Billionaire’s Row, which had four transactions that blew its quarterly data out of proportion.
Price per square foot for new development transactions in Harlem jumped nearly 10% in the second quarter from the prior one, to $1,207 per square foot.
More:Manhattan Luxury Sales Aided by 'Affordable Luxury'
Most expensive areas for new developments
The four transactions on Billionaire’s Row, the stretch of luxury highrises at the southern edge of Central Park, made the Midtown area far and away the most expensive among new developments. The average price on Billionaire’s Row hit $7,268 per square foot.
The second most expensive area was Downtown Manhattan—which includes new luxury buildings like 30 Park Place and the so-called "Jenga tower" at 56 Leonard St. The 401 downtown condos that sold or went into contract in the second quarter had an average price of $2,335 per square foot.
Inventory up in Manhattan, down in Brooklyn
The number of new development units in Manhattan rose 34.6% in the second quarter over the same quarter last year, to nearly 6,000 units. This was due in large part to a spate of new project approvals, including the trifecta of luxury apartments that comprise Waterline Square on the far West Side and Central Park Tower, planned to be one of the tallest buildings in the Western Hemisphere on Billionaire’s Row.
Development in Brooklyn has been far leaner. The borough has seen a 28% decrease in available new development units since the same quarter last year.