Uptown Real Estate Movement
Since all of the ruckus on Wall Street started, I've been hearing conflicting reports about how it has affected New York's insular real estate market. Of course, I primarily have my attention fixed on uptown neighborhoods. While I have heard elsewhere, and as reported here, that even booming Harlem has slowed, it still seems to me that they're throwing up buildings I can't afford faster than an uptown 3 train.
Last night, in one of my nonsensical ever-dreaming moods, I looked up real estate for sale in Harlem on Trulia. I was encouraged, sort of. We can almost afford a one bedroom. Almost. Seems like prices are coming down. Then I stumbled on to some interesting statistics:
According to Trulia's Real Estate Overview:
- Median Sale Price for homes in central Harlem is actually up 3.5% since Sept.
- Median Sale Price for homes in Morningside Heights is down 26.1% since Sept.
- Median Sale Price for homes in Hamilton Heights is actually up 6.4% since Sept.
- Median Sale Price for homes in Washington Heights is down 33% since Sept.
- Median Sale Price for homes in East Harlem is actually up 130% since Sept.
So Harlem's still going strong (for the moment), someday we might actually be able to afford Morningside Heights (what?!?) and we most definitely wont be able to afford to move to East Harlem (WHAT?!?!).
Comments
I guess our conversation this weekend on the housing market was inaccurate!
We can only dream that NYC real estate will come down in price! :-)
Hi Mike!
Thought you might enjoy this.
I met with the President of Halstead and the entire Halstead office last week at 175 Lenox and shot this video:
http://www.truliablog.com/2008/10/18/harlem-real-estate-market-trulia-ta...
Best,
Rudy
Social Media Guru at Trulia
Exactly...so I guess we keep dreaming. :)
Cool. thanks for the link, Rudy.
Umm.. you're misinterpreting % change in median price. The fact that East Harlem is still going up while Morningside is going down is not cause for "WHAT?!" The median in East Harlem is still much lower, despite gains.
Places like East Harlem are still undervalued due to racism and crime, and values will continue to rise as both factors become less prevalent. The nationwide housing downturn and credit crunch is driving down values in Morningside. Over time, the difference in price between Morningside and East Harlem will be reduced.
Well, thanks for the comment Anonymous, but actually according to the same Trulia data, the avg. sale price in the last quarter showed East Harlem selling higher than Morningside heights.
Now, this could be due to fewer 'wealthier' Morningside Heights'ers entering the market, this market being more impacted by the downturn, the purchase of large properties by developers in East Harlem, or a variety of different things. And, sure East Harlem has some catching up to do and big gains don't necesarily mean it's soaring above other neighborhoods. But it seems much higher than I would have realized, and indeed higher than the west side. An average sale price of $1,143,700 in East Harlem still makes me say WHAT?!?!
Keep the Glasers updated about your research, Mike, because we are currently dreaming of buying in NYC one day too... We're on an Aggressive Savings Strategy (acronym...) and hoping that we'll be able to afford something in the next couple of years. Imagine that!
Aggressive Savings Strategy....hmmm...sounds like a good idea. Good for you guys!
The 2 biggest factors for housing demand are location- and we can all agree Manhattan HAS location, a desirable and scarce location, and 2) the best economic indicator in the aggreagate is job growth, or decline. It will be interesting towatch manhattan home prices as the economy sheds jobs- see if it can with stand that. We'll see.
Terry in Charlotte NC's last blog post... Huntersville Homes For Sale Relocation to Huntersville NC Lower Lake Norman
I'm certainly watching it closely. I'm sure Manhattan will always be the location, though fluctuations will occur in the strength of the market. I for one, and don't think I'm alone, would love to see it weaken a bit more.
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