Archive for January, 2008
Bull vs. Bear - What Do the Experts Say About Real Estate and the Economy?
Categories: Finance, For Buyers, For Sellers, Market Analysis
Industry Experts Speak on the Market and Economy
Today I had the pleasure to attend the Inman News sponsored Real Estate Connect ‘08 NYC in Manhattan. It’s a three day conference on the real estate market and real estate marketing. Many movers and shakers in the real estate world were panelists. Everyone from Craig Newmark, founder of craigslist to the folks from zillow, industry leaders like Dottie Herman, head of Prudential Douglas Elliman, Pamela Liebman of Corcoran and Economics Professor Nuriel Roubini of NYU’s Stern School of Business spoke on various topics. Of course, the hot topic was what’s going on in the real estate market and the economy.
The Worst is Yet to Come
The most bearish of the bunch was Prof. Roubini. He claims we’re in for a monsterous recession (his words) and mentioned some pretty disturbing figures. He said that if the U.S. housing market were to lose 30% of it’s value that would mean a 6 trillion dollar hit for the economy. In his view, the worst is yet to come. The panelists agreed unanimously that the credit crisis was a result of lax regulation which led to too easy money which caused inflation in housing prices. The continued shifting of credit risk to the next guy while everyone along the food chain made big money in fees was also a factor in the credit market implosion.
NYC Still a Bargain - But What About Hoboken?
The bull in the group was Dottie Herman, who pointed out that the combination of the weak dollar, lots of weathy buyers and New York City’s allure as a destination for foreign buyers was keeping the local market on an even keel. She did note that location becomes even more important at times like these.
What do you think? Is our local economy doing well enough to support current housing prices here in Hoboken? Stay tuned for more interesting insights from tomorrow’s events.
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A Long Look Back - Hoboken Condos Had a Happy History
Categories: For Buyers, For Sellers, Market Analysis
My last post looked at Hoboken condo sales figures for this year compared to last year. It’s interesting to take a bit of a longer view. So these are the results for the past 7 years based on quarterly figures. Again, numbers include only MLS listed properties. There is no doubt that the Hoboken condo market is very closely tracking the Manhattan market.
Hoboken Condo Sales Prices Climb Through the Early 00’s, Peak in ‘05
Hoboken Condo Sales Prices per Square Foot Follow the Same Trend
There was more of a dip at the end of ‘06 but square foot prices picked up again in ‘07.
If we look at sales based on the total for each year, we see something very similar:
Here is a chart based on percentage change in sales price from year to year:
This makes it pretty clear that ‘01, ‘04 and ‘05 saw huge increases. Today we are almost flat but not quite.
Can Lack of Inventory Limit sales?
The actual number of sales transactions peaked in ‘04 and then slowed down in ‘05 probably due to a lack of inventory. At the peak of the market when everything sold quickly there simply may not have been enough properties to sell - demand outpaces supply and prices rise.
Days on Market Remains Low
The number of days a Hoboken condo is on the market from listing to contract dropped in 03 and has pretty much kept declining.
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Don’t Believe What You Read - 2007 Hoboken Condo Sales Beat 2006 by All Measures
Categories: Finance, For Buyers, For Sellers, Hoboken Real Estate News, Market Analysis
Here are the facts. All numbers based on the full year. First figure represents 2007 - second figure represents 2006.
Number of Listings: 1,598 vs. 1,755
Number of Sales: 972 vs. 866
Average Asking Price: $534,088 vs. $527,679
Average Sales Price: $523,303 vs. $517,151
Discount off List ($): $10,785 vs. $10,528
Discount off List (%): 2.02% vs. 2.00%
Average Size: 989 sq. ft. vs. 1,001 sq. ft.
Average $ per Sq. Ft. $529 vs. $517
Median Sales Price: $500,000 vs. $487,750
High Sold Price: $2,350,000 vs. $1,450,000
Low Sold Price: $173,000 vs. $155,000
Total Listed: $519,133,881 vs. $456,970,460
Total Sold: $508,651,429 vs. $447,853,354
*All number are based on MLS listings and do not include for sale by owner or developer (pre-construction) transactions.
And for more good news, Artie Lange of the Howard Stern Show said on the show today that he would like to open a comedy club here and call it “HoJokin”.
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