Manhattan New Development Market Drops 30 Percent

In the third quarter, New York City’s new development market hit what many hope is its bottom.

Manhattan’s new development contracts fell 30 percent to 240 from 331, compared to the same time last year. Contract volume was down 13 percent to $961 million from $1.1 billion, according to data from Brown Harris Stevens Development Marketing.

The market’s downswing could appear as a natural extension of the headwinds across sectors. But the resale market has remained healthy, with contract signings up in the same time period.

The culprit, according to Robin Schneiderman, managing director at BHSDM, remains low inventory after several years of a slow new development pipeline. The 3,000 new development units on the market are 30 percent below Manhattan’s 10-year average.

“It was a head-scratcher,” he said of trying to make sense of the lackluster sales numbers. “It’s not the best quarter to come out and say the market is good or the market is bad.”

The already-low supply numbers are, in reality, uneven: four buildings that launched at least four years ago, including One Wall Street and the Waldorf-Astoria condo conversion, account for roughly 1,000 unsold units.

The average closed price per square foot was roughly flat year-over-year at $2,070.

Brooklyn’s activity told a similar story. Contracts fell 21 percent to 198 and contract volume fell 20 percent to $350 million.

Front & York, CIM Group and LIVWRK’s two-tower Dumbo development, led the borough in contracts signed with 11, according to Marketproof. The 400-unit building launched sales in 2021 and is now over 80 percent sold, according to Marketproof.

What’s old is new

With just 360 new units hitting the market last quarter across 10 buildings in Manhattan, many of the quarter’s top-selling condos were boutique launches or older buildings catching a second wind against reduced competition.

Yangfang Chen’s Sunlight Development and investment firm NuVerse’s conversion of a historic NoMad office building at 95 Madison notched 28 contracts with an average asking price per square foot of $2,036 after launching sales this past summer, according to data from Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group.

Known as the Emmet Building, the hulking stone structure with its Gothic revival ornamentation has 65 condos across its 16 stories. Prices range from just over $1 million for a one-bedroom to over $25 million for a six-bedroom penthouse.

Global Real Estate Ventures’ Vickie Saali is leading sales.

JVP Management’s project at 250 West 96th, which launched sales four years ago, inked 13 contracts in the quarter. The 130-unit building is now two-thirds sold, with units ranging in price from $1.3 million for a one-bedroom to just under $12 million for a four-bedroom penthouse.

A Corcoran team led by Kristen Suh and Team Arceon is overseeing sales.

Projects with more entry-level pricing fared particularly well, according to Schneiderman, because “that segment of the market is starving for inventory.”

The former rental building at 155 West 68th Street, owned by Ogden CAP Properties, a real estate investment firm owned by a branch of the Milstein family, added 15 contracts last quarter after converting to include 324 condos in 2024. The average asking price for those units was just $1,402, according to Corcoran Sunshine.

A Brown Harris Stevens Development Marketing team, led by Andrew Phillips and Amelia Gewirtz, has the listings.

Correction: This article has been updated to specify the number of condos at 155 West 68th Street. A previous version of this article mistakenly identified the building as having 324 units overall.