(NEW YORK, NEW YORK)— Amid rapidly rising rents in NYC over the past 20 years, there have been dire pronouncements that property in the city is out-of-reach for all but the like of Justin Timberlake, Beyonce and anonymous financiers with dubious sources of wealth who somehow make more than the former two combined. But now, CNN reports, prices have fallen almost 14% over the past year, with the average sale price of a condo or co-op down to $1.66 million, bringing the city into reach for the downtrodden masses of the upper middle class. Interest rates are also extraordinarily low.
Sellers despair, buyers rejoice. Just to tell you a little bit about the New York real estate market, experts are attributing the slump to the mansion tax that went into effect on July 1, 2019. Apparently, the luxury buyers who make up the bulk of the market rushed to close before the July 1 deadline when homes valued at $25 million could be subject to a 3.9% tax rate. The extraordinarily low interest rates also aren’t stimulating the suffering billionaire class, who are the most common all-cash buyers in the city.
