Buyer's or Sellers Market? I Need Help?

Posted by urbandigs

Fri May 18th, 2007 10:36 AM

A: This is the first time in UrbanDigs history that I am reaching out to my readers for help! I got great feedback from my posts on whether or not the current Manhattan real estate market is a buyers or sellers market, but I want to take it a step further. I recently posted how I think the current market still favors sellers, and that hasn't changed, but how I go about reaching that conclusion might. I'm working on something here and need your input. Please use comments section! And thanks!

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Everyone interested in New York City real estate wants to know if its a good time to buy. They want to know if the current market favors buyers or sellers. So what better place to discuss this topic than right here. When I think of what type of market it is, I look at certain things. I take into account:

(a) buyer activity at open houses & private showings
(b) who has control during bidding process / negotiability
(c) inventory trends or lack of
(d) seller willingness to trade below building average
(e) buyer willingness to pay asking or above / bidding wars

etc..These five items tell me alot about what is going on right now in the current market. Then I ask my colleagues the same question and based on all opinions, I report back to you guys over here on the digs.

Some people will think that more fundamental items have to do with whether or not its a buyers or sellers market; such as pricing, interest rates, and sales volume. But 2/3 of these items are lagging and hard to come by. I can not tell what a condo/co-op sells for until it closes and sales volume comes out at a lag as well. That goes against what I want to do here for you guys.

The ultimate goal of this site is to keep you educated on what is going on RIGHT NOW that can help in your investment decision making. That is why I discuss macro economics in addition to housing related topics. For this topic, we need to figure out WHAT YOU THINK DETERMINES A BUYERS OR SELLERS MARKET HERE IN MANHATTAN SO THAT I CAN BEST MEASURE IT.

CAN YOU HELP ME? Please speak out even if you never spoke out here before. There are no stupid answers and I encourage you to think outside the box. I know I am missing a few things and want to consider all ideas before proceeding with my idea.

Thanks!


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