Manhattan’s real estate market cooled off in November, according to a report released Wednesday by StreetEasy, with the borough posting the lowest inventory in the real estate listing site’s history.
Since October, the number of available Manhattan homes dropped by 1,214 to 7,293 last month, a 14.3% decline. The inventory decrease was also 13.3% lower than in November 2014, making it the largest annual decline in StreetEasy history since February 2013.
Alan Lightfeldt, a data scientist for the site, said Manhattanites are waiting for the market to be more in their favor before listing their homes for sale.
“As the slow winter months advance, more homeowners are waiting for the busier spring season to list their homes,” he said in the report.
The lack of new housing options caused Manhattan sales prices to rise in November. The median resale price in the borough rose 6.6% from November 2014 to $992,111 last month, according to StreetEasy. Upper Manhattan had the largest increase in resale prices with 19%, followed by the Upper West Side with 9.5%, and downtown with 6.1%.
StreetEasy found that Manhattan’s rental market also took a hit in November as inventory declined 0.6% from that month in 2014. The availability of downtown Manhattan rentals saw the largest decrease during that time with an 8.3% dip, followed by upper Manhattan at 4.1% and the Upper West Side at 2.9%.
Manhattan rents were higher because of the smaller market, with a median of $3,137 in November, a 5.4% increase from November 2014 and the largest year-to-year growth rate since April 2012, according to StreetEasy.
