CNN reports that Manhattan home prices are still holding strong as overseas buyers and Wall Street workers compete for the few homes for sale.
Manhattan real estate continues to buck national trends - New York home prices soared during the last three months of the year, according to several surveys released Thursday.
Several factors buoyed the Manhattan market:
Bonus Money
Wall Street brokerages, despite a hit from cratering mortgage bonds, still paid out big, end-of-year bonuses.Overseas Buyers
Another major factor is the influence of foreign buyers, according to Greg Heym, chief economist for Brown Harris Stevens. The dollar’s decline made buying in Manhattan something of a bargain for them.Low Interest Rates
On the lower end, reasonable interest rates kept monthly mortgage payments within reach for many New Yorkers.
“It’s like the Energizer bunny,” said Pam Liebman, CEO of Corcoran. “It just keeps going and going and going.”
This will just keep going on forever, because New York has never seen declines in real estate, right? It’s been said before that the NYC housing market is very closely related to the stock market. With the Fed keeping interest rates low (and possibly lowering them) the stock market should hold up well.
I remember the same conditions for California real estate in the 80’s. The “foreigners” were Japanese. California had a booming aerospace business. What happened in the 90’s?
New York has is climbing a higher cliff.