Real Estate
Manhattan Home Sales Tumble Most Since 2009 as Buyers Walk
- Haggling gets more aggressive for listings at all price points
- ‘People are very anxious about overpaying,’ brokerage CEO says
Why Manhattan Home Sales Tumbled Most Since 2009
Home sales in Manhattan plunged by the most since the recession as buyers at all price levels drove hard bargains and were in no rush to close deals.
Sales of all condos and co-ops fell 25 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier to 2,180, according to a report Tuesday by appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and brokerage Douglas Elliman Real Estate. It was the biggest annual decline since the second quarter of 2009, when Manhattan’s property market froze in the wake of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s bankruptcy filing and the global financial crisis that followed.