Bids were placed on all sizes of apartments, with bidding wars extremely common. Prices were stable and the negotiability factor, between the asking and selling prices, declined in enough cases to call it a trend. Larger apartments had multiple bids; smaller one-bedroom units and studios were not moving as quickly. Yet even those were closing throughout the quarter. The message to sellers was loud and clear, this is a great time to sell! As apartments came on the market, buyers absorbed the new inventory. We expect a continuation of this activity through the next quarter. With renewed buyer interest, apartments coming on the market can afford to increase prices, but just a little. While huge asking price adjustments upwards won’t attract savvy customers, the activity level is brisk and final closing prices are looking good. Positive news for buyers is that prices are still down from an all-time high and it is worth taking a look.

Properties that had been on the market for weeks or months were selling. Prices increased, but were still attractive to a greater number of buyers. Interest rates are still low, and customers reluctant to make an investment found that this was a good time to put in a bid. With coops and condos in low supply, we saw something that we hadn’t seen in quite some time... bidding wars. In our area, multiple offers were very common. It wasn’t unusual to have 3 or 4 bids on an apartment that had been void of interest for 6 to 12 months. What a difference this quarter! Looking forward to the rest of the year, we expect more sellers to feel comfortable putting apartments on the market. While prices are still down more than 12% from the market high, increased demand is beginning to push numbers up and is making it much more attractive for sellers who have waited. This is all very positive, we are happy to report.

In relation to the rest of the country, one might think that the real estate market is booming in New York City, and more specifically, the Upper East Side. While the stock market continues its wild swings at treacherous speeds, and unemployment concerns are plentiful in other areas, we saw a higher volume of coop and condo sales this past quarter. Mortgages are harder to get, as lenders continue with stringent qualification standards, but that hasn’t stopped people from buying.

The news on the Upper East Side is that there is no news!  What this means is that there have been no significant changes the last three months. Business has been steady and if you are a buyer, it is a great time to buy. Thinking about selling?  It's not a bad time for that either. We could say that it looks like a perfect world for Upper East Side real estate, but we don’t want to get carried away. There is certainly room for market improvement. Studios and one bedroom coops and condos have not been selling quickly unless they are very well priced, so there is a lot of inventory in that category on the market. There are not very many three-plus bedroom homes on the market and they are selling in a relatively short amount of time. The two bedroom market on the Upper East Side is fairly strong right now without the usual start of the summer lull.

In the stronger categories, prices did creep up a little, which is not a surprise. The negotiability factor has been running anywhere from 0% to 4%. Of course, this can easily vary if the property was priced according to the market in the first place. If not, price reductions are almost always seen before bids start coming in. Purchasers are reluctant to make an offer if the price is not in the right ball park. They don't want to waste time. Information about selling prices is available to everyone and buyers are very educated by the time they make a purchasing decision.

The next quarter will be interesting on the Upper East Side. It always is. We don't expect to see any major changes happening quickly. That's good news.