Co-op Prices a Bright Spot in Slumping Market

Conventional wisdom holds that condos have become more desirable than co-ops in New York City. Condos tend to be worth more, they offer ownership of real estate (as opposed to shares in a corporation), and their governance is much less restrictive. The conventional wisdom is not looking so wise these days.

While residential sales prices slumped by a hefty 16 percent citywide during the first quarter of 2018, the average sales price of a New York City cooperative unit was $791,000 – a healthy 11 percent increase, according to the new Residential Sales Report from the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY). In Manhattan, the average sales price for a co-op also rose 11 percent to a new record of $1,308,000, while in Queens, the average sales price for a co-op increased 13 percent to a new record of $310,000 in the first quarter of 2018.

Meanwhile, the average sales price for a condominium plunged 20 percent citywide, to $1.56 million. This was driven by the Manhattan condo average sales price, which dropped 17 percent to $2,508,000 from an all-time high average sales price of $3,032,000 in the first quarter of 2017.

This was the third consecutive quarter of year-over-year declines in the city’s total residential sales. The market has not experienced three quarters of consecutive year-over-year decreases since the third quarter of 2009, when the Great Recession was bearing down.

“The declines in consideration and transactions are largely attributable to a slowdown in sales activity at the high end of the Manhattan market,” says John Banks, REBNY president. “Demand has remained strong in other important market segments as demonstrated by several new average sales price records set for cooperative units and one- to three-family dwellings throughout the boroughs.”

So much for the conventional wisdom – at least for now.