The average price of an apartment in Manhattan has reached a record high of $1.87m.
The last record was $1.77m in the first quarter of 2014. But an 11% increase in the second quarter of this year took the price to the new high, according to a report from Douglas Elliman Real Estate.
Overall, the average price of a New York City apartment in 2014 was $1.7m. That in itself was a record high.
“It’s like everyone revved up their engines again,” Pamela Liebman, CEO of the Corcoran Group, told the New York Times. “In all my years of doing this, I have never seen such a hunger for New York City real estate.”
The high prices are partly due to the lack of housing, with many New York condos going straight to rental instead up for sale over the past few years. After the 2008 financial crash, construction in New York slowed down. With developers unable to get construction loans or revenue for projects, a lot of the planned projects were delayed or canceled.
In 2014, the number of US homeowners reached a 20-year low. The national homeownership rate has been in decline for 10 years and reached 63.7% in the first quarter of this year - the lowest quarterly rate since early 1993.
In Manhattan, especially, the high real estate prices have driven an increasing number of residents to rent rather than buy.
The vacancy rate of Manhattan rentals this month reached 1.07%, down from 1.17% a year ago. That means that about 99% of apartments and homes available for rent in New York City are occupied.
New York City rents have also reached a record high this month, with an average of $4,081 a month. The previous record high was $3,902 a month in May 2014, according to Douglas Elliman.
