NYC homes sell at their fastest pace in 6 years: study

New York City homes are once again selling in a New York minute.

In April, according to a newly released market report from listings portal StreetEasy, the median city home spent a total of 46 days listed for sale — 20 days below the 66 days tallied in April 2021. That figure also marks the shortest time units spent on the market since April 2016, when they sold in just 44 days.

It’s a sign of a competitive market marked with strong buyer demand. Not only does the spring house hunt traditionally bring fast-moving deals, but it also comes as locals continue returning to the city in droves with schools and offices back open.

Also part of that demand for buying a city home: increased prices. In April, the median asking price for a city home climbed to $995,000 — a 4.7% year-over-year jump, as well as the highest price recorded since June 2019. The number of homes that entered contract stayed near the record highs seen last spring. In April, and in Manhattan alone, a total of 1,525 units entered contract — the most the borough has seen since May 2013.

Despite how it may seem, there are plenty of apartments to go around for those who can afford to buy them. Last month, StreetEasy recorded 19,000 city homes for sale — not far from the pre-pandemic high of the 20,735 listed in the spring of 2019 during a slow-moving market.

The sales market is a far cry from the rental market, which in the later end of 2021 began returning to its notoriously high prices — marked by massive hikes for renewals and followed by bidding wars to secure available units. Adding salt to the wound, there are now fewer than 10,000 available rental units for grabs in Manhattan, Brooklyn and parts of Queens.

The StreetEasy report, similarly, only includes data from Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.

In Manhattan, the median asking price rose to $1.45 million in April, a 7.4% year-over-year increase. That’s lower than pre-COVID, but Brooklyn reached pre-pandemic pricing in April when prices grew 6.6% year-over-year to a $975,000 median, the highest StreetEasy says it’s been since May 2019. Queens, meanwhile, saw median prices lower 2.5% year-over-year in April to $599,450.