Market Trends: Century Tower Goes Condo
A: While this is more like a story from early 2005's booming market, I just got word that a few listings have been priced over at Century Towers on 400 East 90th street which used to be rentals. Rental buildings historically convert to condo to take advantage of market trends if housing is hot enough. We saw a few of these last year which contributed to the shrinking supply of rentals available to those priced out of the housing market; resulting in record low vacancy rates across Manhattan for early 2006. Here are some details I was able to dig up.
Of 13 available listings on the Century Tower Condo website, four are already IN CONTRACT. Looks like most units are being priced at or above $1,000/sft for this amenity rich building in the Upper East. While apartments are nicely finished, the units in this building seem to be on the smaller side with awkward layouts. Not that it is not nice, it is, and the amenities are great, its just that when I used to show these apartments for rentals the feedback I got was that the layout was a bit restricting. definitely worth a look though if you are in the hunt for a condo conversion in the upper east side with plenty of amenities.
Building Amenities Include:
Some available units currently include:
APT 12C - Studio
Price: $425,000
Size: 408 SFT
maintenance: $440
RE Taxes: $132
PPSF: $1,041/sft
APT 8B - One Bedroom
Price: $615,000
Size: 589 SFT
maintenance: $635
RE Taxes: $190
PPSF: $1,044/sft
APT 5E - Two Bedroom
Price: $1,200,000
Size: 1,378 SFT
maintenance: $1,486
RE Taxes: $446
PPSF: $870/sft (Hmmm..Value here or lack of light/views?)
Posted by Dave
Thu Nov 9th, 2006 06:27 PM
Hey Noah, hope the move went smoothly mate.
A few thoughts:
a) any idea of how long these condo's have been on the sales market? When did they move off rental, those that were being rented out? Are these the initial offers or have they been marked down?
b) how long do you think those 4 "contract agreed" parties have been on that status for? What's the likelihood of them pulling out as the market softens? It happens here a fair bit, especially because of the fragility of housing chains but not sure of how it goes down over that side.
c) it's safe to say from what i've seen that that building is high end and will sell regardless of ripples and softening in the housing market. Ricky Gervais just bought a place there, i think there will always be demand, and places will get bought up, it just depends on the price it's going for. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for the CT condos there to get picked up - probably a good one to watch for a general indicator of the Manhattan market, as the upper end can be a good precursor from what i've seen for the lower strata. We should look back at those every 2 weeks to track movement.
Posted by noah
Thu Nov 9th, 2006 08:03 PM
thanks Dave. Thanks for making me dig some more on this. Some answers for you:
a) Seems like 10/22/2006 was the general listing date, with few apts coming on the market a few days later. Not sure how long ago they stopped accepting new rental leases but I would think they planned the marketing of this building like many new dev's do; that is, release a batch at a time with a few units available for studios, 1 beds, and 2 beds.
Actually, prices were raised for most units a few days after the original listing. Examples include 10A increased from $615K to $645K, 12C increased from $380K to $425K, and more.
b) Looks like the contract signed units were taken off the market at the same time, 11/1/2006. Wouldn't expect any buyers to back out of these. Its a good product, albeit on smaller side.
c) I think it will sell too. Will keep tabs on it, especially heading into wall street bonus season in a few months.
thx