Return of Aspirational Pricing ?

nicolebeauchamp

Well-known member
Is anyone starting to see some really ambitious asking prices on new listings ? Noticed a listing that came back on the market....for 150K more....than it was last listed for....last summer.
 

nicolebeauchamp

Well-known member
The problem with this is , as one just had a seller accepting some semblance of reasonableness in pricing, now something on a lower floor is significantly more expensive and they're like , well, maybe we are pricing incorrectly ....:mad::oops:o_O
 

David Goldsmith

All Powerful Moderator
Staff member
How many deals got done last year in Manhattan? Under 7,500?
How many agents are there in Manhattan? 30,000?
If you've got 30,000 agents chasing 7,500 deals and a significant number screaming "the market is back! It's a seller's market again," what do you expect seller's reactions to be?
 

nicolebeauchamp

Well-known member
How many deals got done last year in Manhattan? Under 7,500?
How many agents are there in Manhattan? 30,000?
If you've got 30,000 agents chasing 7,500 deals and a significant number screaming "the market is back! It's a seller's market again," what do you expect seller's reactions to be?
I really particularly love those "everything is back" emails, from people who left and were saying everything is dead....just a few months ago....
 

Noah Rosenblatt

Talking Manhattan on UrbanDigs.com
Staff member
Is anyone starting to see some really ambitious asking prices on new listings ? Noticed a listing that came back on the market....for 150K more....than it was last listed for....last summer.
Hmm, could the realtime shifts in recent months be getting to sellers heads?
 

Noah Rosenblatt

Talking Manhattan on UrbanDigs.com
Staff member
How many deals got done last year in Manhattan? Under 7,500?
How many agents are there in Manhattan? 30,000?
If you've got 30,000 agents chasing 7,500 deals and a significant number screaming "the market is back! It's a seller's market again," what do you expect seller's reactions to be?
Broker A- Your place is worth 1M. Broker B - Your place is worth 1M. Broker C - Your place is worth $1M. Broker D - your place is worth $2M. Seller: Broker D, your hired!
 

John Walkup

Talking Manhattan on UrbanDigs.com
But how many of those 30,000 are really professionals? Really it's more like 3,000 agents chasing 6,000 deals....
 

David Goldsmith

All Powerful Moderator
Staff member
Ask any agent how many times they have heard "I really want to list with you, but my wife's sister's best friend just started working at..."
If those "non-professionals" get 1 listing every 3 years and you're right that they number 27,000 that's still more than the number of deals done last year.
 

David Goldsmith

All Powerful Moderator
Staff member
Is anyone starting to see some really ambitious asking prices on new listings ? Noticed a listing that came back on the market....for 150K more....than it was last listed for....last summer.
Have you noticed the amount of apartments being taken off the market without selling? I think this is an indication that agents are not telling sellers the reason so many contracts are being signed is the combination of low mortgage rates and sellers accepting lower sales prices.

"buyers who had waited on the sidelines are sensing opportunity in Manhattan now as mortgage rates hover near record lows and sellers become more negotiable on pricing."
 

nicolebeauchamp

Well-known member
Have you noticed the amount of apartments being taken off the market without selling? I think this is an indication that agents are not telling sellers the reason so many contracts are being signed is the combination of low mortgage rates and sellers accepting lower sales prices.

"buyers who had waited on the sidelines are sensing opportunity in Manhattan now as mortgage rates hover near record lows and sellers become more negotiable on pricing."
Yes, I've also noticed things coming off the market and agree that agents are not doing a good enough job of conveying that sellers are accepting lower sales prices.

And then there are some things that clearly linger (and have switched brokerages) and there's no movement. And for buyers-especially where the velocity of the market ,in the non luxe sector (under 1.5M) - they still have some degree of choice.
 

John Walkup

Talking Manhattan on UrbanDigs.com
How far away from the market is too far? At what point is a seller's price too ridiculous to bother with? 15% 20%? Townhouses can be all over the map soo they are excepted but for a coop/condo <$20M?
 

David Goldsmith

All Powerful Moderator
Staff member
One issue with the intentional overpricing and "just being negotiable" in a down/buyer's market is that it encourages a problematic behavior in buyers which has gotten worse in the information age:
They read reports about "average negotiability" (which is driven higher due to this tactic). Then they go out and look at 50 apartments (which are also on the market longer due to this tactic, so there is no sense of urgency). Then they pick the one apartment which has been priced right at market and say "Well, average negotiability is X%, so I want X% off this one."
 

Noah Rosenblatt

Talking Manhattan on UrbanDigs.com
Staff member
Its an issue, but the market is what the market is. At all times there are aspirational sellers. It may not be the agents inability to ge through to the seller, it could be that, but it can also be other forces at work.

I would think at all times X% of the active market consists of unrealistic, aspirational sellers looking to see if they get close to their #, with no true motivation to sell. I would love to measure that % and track it, and see if its swelling or not..guess we can find a way to do that (ie, measure listing inventory with DOM higher than 180 I guess)...but this is just part of the marketplace dynamics that exist at all times.
 

David Goldsmith

All Powerful Moderator
Staff member

David Goldsmith

All Powerful Moderator
Staff member

David Goldsmith

All Powerful Moderator
Staff member
I got an email the other day, with a price increase of 1M....
I'll bet they are finally getting offers but the agent is indulging the seller's calling them "bottom fishers" and think raising the price will bring higher offers. My guess is that the offers will just stop coming (or they will encounter real bottom fishers).
 
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