NYC housing markets continue to gain strength

Real Estate Weekly, Oct 22, 1997

"The local and national economies remain powerful, unemployment and inflation have stayed remarkably low, the national deficit seems to be under control, and productivity is strong - all of which are critical to the strength of the housing market," says Albert.

What's more, adds the residential marketing specialist, there continues to be an astounding lack of housing product available in the New York metropolitan area, whether for sale or for rent.

Pessimists who compare today's marketplace to that of the '80s are overlooking four key differences, says Albert.

"In 1987, the supply of apartments was not nearly as tight as it is today," she notes. "Furthermore, the pipeline of new apartments is relatively empty today. And, even more important, it now takes longer than ever - an average of four years - for a project to come to fruition. Thus, even after a developer has acquired a site - which can be enormously time-consuming in and of itself - it still takes years for the necessary approvals, designs and construction. That's usually before the new product actually hits the market. And today there are probably no more than a dozen good sites available for development in Manhattan."

What's more, says Albert, speculative fever 10 years ago was far wilder than it is now. "In those days, there was an enormous amount of buying - and flipping - of apartments, solely for their appreciation in value," says Albert. "Even doormen and policemen were doing it. That's simply not the case now."

Albert notes that prices continue to rise today at a remarkable rate. "In one Park Avenue building in which we've been active lately, the average prices of those apartments recently sold have appreciated fully $100,000 a week," she says.

But such muscle in the market primarily reflects the underlying strength of the national and local economy, she insists.

"No, the sky is not the limit, and some sellers are asking unrealistic prices that will doom them to disappointment," concludes Albert. "By and large, however, the re-sale and rental markets are likely to continue to be robust well into the next millennium."

A Manhattan-based real estate marketing and brokerage firm, The Marketing Directors, Inc. serves clients' residential and investment sales needs, ranging from individual properties to multi-unit developments. The firm is active in many pans of the United States and Canada, concentrating most heavily in the Northeast.