The Market Report: March 2025

Chances and Control

We will enter the spring real estate market this month. Inventory in both Manhattan and Brooklyn were slightly down month-over-month, and essentially flat year-over-year. The market then to now doesn’t feel much different. The climate outside the market now does feel different, and sentiment seemed to be somewhat stagnant in the fall through the election months. But buyer activity has increased since the beginning of the new year.

Uncertain times such as now can offer great opportunity, and there are buyers out there who certainly feel the same. They are active, committed, and in several tight markets in which really attractive options are scarce – such as neighborhoods in central and northern Brooklyn currently – they are experiencing the challenges of competition and loss. That loss often makes them savvier and resilient. We saw that this past month in several contentious bidding scenarios.

We are very likely to see increased property inventory this month – more in Manhattan, less in Brooklyn. Last year March and April, we saw an uptick in inventory and market activity. We suspect we will see the same this year as sellers work to get themselves into contract before the summer months. If that doesn’t play out, the sellers who do come to market will make out well, if the property is attractive and priced to meet the market.

Our New York City real estate market offers long-term precedent of value. New York City’s track record has made it one of the most desirable international real estate markets. Despite surrounding uncertainty, property ownership in the city isn’t speculative. It also offers the opportunity for forced savings, not payments to a landlord that offers no equity, particularly in a high-rent environment. It offers the opportunity for value appreciation, the security of home, and the opportunity for control of your personal space – from kitchen or bathroom renovations, coop or condo building capital improvements, to having custom built-ins made to store your extensive book collection and improve property value.

This year we reached the quarter-century mark. Without a doubt this century has underscored the long-term promise of New York City real estate – through good times and the bad, which just four years ago naysayers said would crush the city. Over and again this market has proven long-term opportunity, particularly when the wider world offers uncertainty.

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