Manhattan apartment sales fall 18% in third quarter, marking reversal

Key Points

• Manhattan apartment sales fell 18% in the third quarter, putting the brakes on New York's real estate comeback.
• The figure last fell in the fourth quarter of 2020, and marks a turnaround for the nation's largest real estate market.
• Brokers say the drop simply marks a return to normalcy after the artificially high sales of 2021.

Luxury high-rise apartments are viewed across Central Park South near Columbus Circle in the Manhattan borough of New York.

Robert Nickelsberg | Getty Images

Manhattan apartment sales fell 18% in the third quarter, as rising mortgage rates and declining stock markets put the brakes on New York's real estate comeback.

The drop is the first since 2020, and marks a turnaround for the nation's largest real estate market, according to a report from Miller Samuel and Douglas Elliman. While prices in the Big Apple remain high with the average Manhattan apartment price rising 4% over the past year to $1.96 million price increases are slowing and the inventory of unsold homes is starting to rise.

Sales in Manhattan last declined in the fourth quarter of 2020, when they fell by 21%.