{July, 2023} Another Rate Increase, Another Slow Month

I’m late this month in delivering the monthly commentary to you because of our travels!  Summer is the season of wandering.  We first traveled to Newfoundland, Canada in mid July.  Did you know our beloved Labrador descended from the Newfoundland Dog?!  Newfoundland was beautiful and sparsely populated.  It was my kind of happy place.  We went back to New York for two weeks and now we are in Shanghai!  This is the first time in 3.5 years since we were there last.  Shanghai feels like an old friend.  It doesn’t matter how much time has passed.  

The NYC real estate market is slower this July than past years’.  Normally we don’t really slow down until August.  But this July, with the Fed raising interest rates to a 22 year high, transaction volume was down again.  The YTD median sales price was 6% lower than the first half of 2022 and the transaction volume was down 23%.  In turn, sellers held off listing their properties.  The amount of homes coming onto the market was nearly 40% lower than last July.  The Absorption Rate stood at 7.6 months versus 6.3 months last July, when rates first started to go higher.  This meant after a year of nonstop rate increases, inventory is higher by 20%.  In summary, our market was still stuck in a state of low volume and slow speed.  

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Good Read

The latest rezoning project that is already transforming Gowanus is getting a new tax incentive.