This past weekend, Brown Harris Stevens Development Marketing’s President Stephen Kliegerman, and Managing Director Robin Schneiderman joined Michael Stoler on The Stoler Report on WABC Radio, part of John Catsimatidis’ radio program CatsRoundtable, to talk about new development inventory and absorption in Manhattan and Brooklyn, as well as pipeline development coming out of Q3.
Real Inventory
While the market has slowed, BHSDM explains that there is an opportunity for developers and a need for new projects. Manhattan’s Real Inventory (which includes new development units actively being marketed as well as shadow inventory) is, for the first time in five years, at approximately 5,000 units, compared to about 6,500 units in the initial post-Covid environment, according to BHSDM’s Research & Advisory reports.
With approximately 1,500 new development units going into contract in the borough in a year, Manhattan has between 3-4 years of supply, and sales are outpacing the number of new units coming online. Important to note is that about 1,500 of those 5,000 units in Real Inventory are in four buildings only.
Office to Residential Conversions
Opportunities and challenges in office-to-residential conversions were also discussed, including the differences between more modern office buildings and historic loft buildings.
Markets Across the City
Looking around the city, the group discussed new projects in Lower Manhattan adding more than 1,000 units to the market; a wave of new condo and rental development, with more coming, on the Upper East Side; and the Brooklyn condo market as a bright spot in the new development space, where sales are strong and there is not much inventory. Gowanus is a hotbed of new development activity – primarily rental – with approximately 6,000 units coming to market that in theory could be a potential feeder market for future condo buyers.