{August.2023} City Vs. Suburb
Since we had one of the slowest months in NYC real estate this August, we took the opportunity and traveled to Shanghai and Yunnan in China. The kids spent some quality time with their grandparents and I met up with some of my childhood friends. Even though the distance between NYC and Shanghai was vast and the two cultures were different, I felt that both cities fit naturally within me. There was no big transition like there used to be when I traveled back and forth when I was younger. Yunnan though, was a different world. We visited local farmers and the fields they worked in. I wanted the kids to see how people lived differently. But I was touched, probably even more so than my girls.
The NYC real estate market moved quietly throughout August. About 800 homes came on the market and into contract in Manhattan and around 400 homes came on and into contract in Brooklyn. The numbers are small but indicate a slow yet orderly market. We were still hearing the suburban markets going into bidding wars, but that was not universal. Nationally, the housing market was lower than before rates started to go higher last June. It is worth noting that the NYC prices might be a bit lower than 2015 levels but are much higher than 2008 levels. Comparatively, prices in suburban areas around NYC are just about the same as those of 2008. People tend to have short memories and think NYC is now less desirable than the suburbs because prices are lackluster in the city whereas prices in the suburbs are getting bid up still. The price differential between the city and the suburbs was at its highest right before the pandemic and the pandemic narrowed it because of the staying power of WFM. It will be interesting to see where that differential goes from here.
Good Read:
The controversial rule regarding registering your AirBnB unit with the city came into effect on 9/5. NYC availabilities on the platform plummeted as a result. Read here on which neighborhoods will hurt the most from the new rule.
The NYC real estate market is at an interesting crossroad. On the one hand, we feel a lot of pent-up demand from buyers who have been watching and waiting for rates to go down.