Do Buyers Have Increased Power in the Residential Market During the Summer Months?
If buyers do have more power, then total signed contracts per inventory should dip from the spring season.
Looking at the average overall Manhattan numbers over the past four years, there was a decrease of approximately 3% of signed contracts per inventory for the summer months when compared to the spring months. Therefore, there is more buyer power in the market during the summer. (Buyer power means that buyers have more leverage over sellers when making offers and negotiating)
Was this increased buyer power apparent in all price points?
For the condo market under one million, the average numbers of condo contracts signed per inventory had a very minimal decrease. This segment of the market carries over more seller power than other segments from the spring.
However, the co-op under one million market features a more significant change as it decreased approximately 3% during July and August.
The one to two million condo market seemed to clearly be more affected by the summer market than its under one million counterpart.
Like its condo counterpart, the co-op market for one to two million market also showed more buyer power.
The two to five million market for condos also dropped approximately 2 to 3% during July and August.
For the co-op two to five million segment, more buyer power is apparent as the contracts signed per inventory fell approximately 5%.
Both condo and co-op markets for the five to ten million market also featured more buyer power with the average percentage of contracts signed per inventory dropping to less than 10% in August for both segments.
For the ten million plus market, while both condos and co-ops feature more buyer power there is more buyer power in co-ops than condos during July and August.
CONCLUSION: Looking at the past four years of the data there is certainly more buyer power to the market in the summer months than the spring. Therefore, for most price points it is favorable for sellers to list in the spring or the fall. The most favorable segment for sellers during July and August is the condo market under one million. This segment shows a negligible difference between listing the apartment in the spring or summer.