The Market of Contradictions
The New York City real estate market is busy, but we're seeing relatively few deals for the amount of activity. To put it another way, real estate brokers will tell you that we are all busy, but not "good busy." Case in point, we just put a property into contract at the asking price in less than 40 days. However, it took over 70 showings to do it!
The phone is ringing. Showings are happening (with staggering frequency, frankly). Listings are on the market for incredible prices. Interest rates are lower than I've ever seen them in my 20-year career. A brave buyer who's getting a great deal just told me she's about to lock her rate. I asked her what she got, and she told me 2.5 percent. Unbelievable!
All these ingredients are bringing buyers to the table, but few are partaking in the feast. There is a confluence of events causing tremendous instability, including the election (which will, hopefully, be resolved within the next few days), the pandemic and the rising outbreaks, empty office buildings and retail storefronts, and very low residential rental rates that keep on falling. Buyers understandably have a lot holding them back.
I've been keeping track of weekly contracts signed since the start of the COVID crisis. We just broke the record and had 198 signings in the week ending on October 23. There will likely be 198 very happy owners selling these properties at tremendous gains five to seven years from now because of the current market conditions. This is why it's bewildering that more buyers aren't moving forward. Potential homebuyers inherently know that they should be buying, and that's the right time to buy. Yet, the fear of a bigger picture with so much uncertainty has foiled their ability to capitalize on probably the best buyers' market I've seen in 20 years. It's understandable, but the buyers who skate out onto the ice first will gain the most.
You may be asking yourself, how can anybody buy with such huge unanswered questions looming on the horizon? What can a skittish buyer do to move forward?
I know! Buy!
It's time. Be the first to skate out on the ice and capitalize when others are hindered by fear. Take advantage of a situation that we may never see again in our lifetimes. This really could be the best buying opportunity in a generation or more. I know it's scary. I know there could be more downturns in the market, but this is New York City, where buyers' markets only happen for a several months every decade. This one began in the middle of the shutdown when we saw the biggest discounts of listing prices. But there are still deals to be had, opportunities to be seized, and the chance to get your piece of the Big Apple at a discount! Once the herd mentality sets and certainty reinstates itself in the consumer psyche, then it'll be over in a flash. Just like that. Poof! Activity will pick up with ferocity with buyers competing with one another, snatching up inventory and sending this current moment's opportunity to the history books.
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