New York Real Estate In Q3 2023: A Wild Ride For Buyers And Sellers

New York City real estate’s third quarter has taken both buyers and sellers on a wild ride. After an active early spring, the market entered June with a bang; the Olshan Luxury Market Report, tracking deals over $4 million in Manhattan, showed 31 transactions in each of June’s first two weeks and 32 in the third week. The same dynamism held true for smaller units as well, with studio and one bedroom units, priced right, staying on the market only a couple of weeks.

As the summer moved on, however, a perfect storm of conditions impacted transaction volume in an almost unprecedented manner. In the first week of June, Olshan reported 31 transactions; in June’s fourth week there were 29. In the second week of July it fell to 24; during the week of July 31 it fell again, to 19 transactions. And the week of September 11 saw 10 deals made, while last week, starting September 18th, saw 8. This precipitous decline cannot be attributed to seasonality alone; multiple factors came into play.