Manhattan was first and foremost a real estate transaction ... and shall ever be the case.
When my wife and I moved to downtown St Pete from NYC we kept our apartment in Manhattan (bought 5 years ago).
Our mortgage maintenance is about the same there as our rent here (around $2000). The NYC apartment is 50 square feet bigger at 750.
Yes there are more amenities in our St Pete apartment but we are dumbstruck at the real estate costs here. And NYC’s biggest amenity is NYC.
In every direction here we see cranes constructing apartment buildings with million dollar apartments.
Real estate prices are crazy everywhere for people who want to pay.
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I think we clearly say that living in Manhattan does not connect you to anyone living anywhere else in the country except SF or SV.
"Simply put, the high cost of land combined with easily available capital made building anything but the highest-end properties unappealing to investors and developers."
This conclusion describes the decisions of those who build properties, creating the inventory known as "new construction".
What is not addressed is the huge number of existing homes (resales) that were sold at fat profits for the original owners, and subsequently occupied by new individuals and families -- not investors.
Why are resales not addressed here? Must I call in Mueller?
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There was a time when living in the Metro NYC area in a top town was highly desirable. Those towns were in CT, NJ, Westchester, Long Island, etc. The cost of living is disproportionately too high to many other areas, the taxes are out of control for out of control benefits for state workers who are incentivized more/better/higher than private employees. And we know which party has totally ruined the Northeast. For quality of life, cost of living, savings for most professionals it is far better to move out and elsewhere.
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Will the NYT’s determine how many of these 4 million dollar plus properties are NOT held by individual names but are actually held by trusts? I bet a huge percentage of these properties are owned for money laundering purposes. Many of them likely also sit empty most of the year! Maybe AOC can look into this matter. It’s a terrible trajectory. The law needs to be changed so that the owner of a property is clear and not some shell company exploiting U.S. tax laws.
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I can tell you that three bedroom,two bath ranch houses built circa 1970's in suburban and semi -rural areas close to NYC are selling quickly in the under $500,000 price range. The houses have living room with fireplace, dining room, large eat in kitchens, full basements and attached garage plus laundry room and bedroom wing on half acre, on tree lined streets. Gone within days of hitting the market.
As for water front in the $1.5 million price range, not moving so fast. Go figure.
In additon, I agree with the comments about affordable housing in NYC vs Hudson Yards.
This "over 4 million" category will be severely impacted even more near term by the reduction of the SALT deduction on Federal Income taxes.
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There was a time when large parcels were devoted to housing for regular people. They were built by Mutual Insurance Companies, Unions and the government. Where we once saw developments like Parkchester or Stuyvesant town we now get Hudson Yards.
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No accounting for inflation? I don't doubt that this still holds up to some extent, but $1,000,000 today is equivalent to just over $700,000 in 2001. I have to imagine that a large amount of the homes "under $1M" in 2001 were worth at least $1 million in today's dollars.
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