Please find this month’s Manhattan Inventory Report (link here). Amid lots of fresh Q3 US economic data as the backdrop, it’s interesting to note that month-over-month, supply spiked dramatically. Specifically, there was an increase of 14% in the number of condominiums, and an increase of 28% in the number cooperative apartments.

However, year-over-year, the total number of properties on the market is nearly identical from October 2022 to today. It is only when we look neighborhood to neighborhood do we see differences from the big-picture trend. The Upper East Side, for instance, has 8% fewer cooperative apartments than a year ago, and about 8% more condominium units. The Upper West Side has a milder version of the same trend: slightly more condominiums, slightly fewer co-ops.  

What is Driving The “Months of Inventory” Metric

What is driving our overall real-time metric of “months of inventory” to rise (see our report for the definition), then, is a slowdown in the pace of sales. In some ways, this is seasonally appropriate. In other ways, it is emblematic of buyers’ intense focus on higher mortgage rates and the uncertainty in the stock market.

Regardless, this sluggish pace offers opportunities for all-cash buyers or those who are financing and willing to bet on New York City today. Our sellers are also seeing bids today, which indicates an abundance of buyers, even when liquidity appears to be lower.

We would love to speak with you about own confidence in this market, and what it means for buyers and sellers. Be in touch to discuss your needs, or your clients’.