Uncertainty and an inability to see eye-to-eye are the enemies of real estate.  Real Estate transacts most effectively when everyone agrees on where we stand; in the economy, politically, inside market trends – nationally and within our local neighborhoods. 

To that end, the hardest periods in which to buy or sell real estate are found in the transitional times between the clearly defined Buyer’s and Seller’s markets.  When buyers and sellers disagree on who is in control, little can get accomplished.  Today, in NYC, we are undeniably in a Buyer’s Market - and because both buyers and sellers acknowledge this, our market is healthy and finally, again, moving. 

October, was as we predicted, a very active month for us with a number of our buyers having offers accepted and a number of our listed properties receiving acceptable bids.  While prices are certainly down, in my estimation 10-15%, we are seeing a significant increase in activity across all price points.  

In the short term, the stock market has been reacting to poor reports – especially from the tech sector - erasing all gains for the year. Whether this is the start of a deeper “correction” or just a shorter term blip is uncertain, but regardless, this will not help our local market as many buyers fear buying something today that will be worth less tomorrow. 

Interestingly, just as NYC seems to be settling into this Buyer’s Market, the rest of the country is finally joining us.  Two weeks ago, a Market Leader partner in San Francisco noted a shift in his Seller’s market.  “Things just got hard” was his quote. This from a broker whose biggest concerns up until recently has been trying to keep his shelves stocked with inventory. We have found these sentiments echoed by other Market Leader partners in many of the country’s luxury sectors (see below article).

So, pretty grim news all around, however, I am trying to see the upside to this.  The downturn spreading across the country, in my view, is a necessary stage of any historical real estate cycle and suggests to me that we are that much closer to getting ourselves out of this. NYC sets the trends in the country (we were the first out of the 2008-2009 downturn and were the first to enter this one) so we should again be the first out, however it’s safe to say that the nationwide downturn had to actually establish itself before we could even start to think about our exit.  I believe we will see light at the end of the tunnel sooner than other markets across the nation and quite possibly sooner than people think.