unsold at $3mm in 2011, 110 West 25 Street loft goes to war to sell at $3.45mm

times have changed, got it?
Next time someone asks you precisely how The Market has changed, tell them that the hyper-local market at 110 West 25 Street is up more than 15% since 2011, and probably a similar premium over 2012. The “2,382 sq ft” Manhattan loft on the 8th floor at 110 West 25 Street did not sell while asking $3mm from June 1 to September 1, 2011, then zoomed through the recent market: on the market at $3.25mm on January 10, sold for $3.45mm on May 3. (Don’t trust StreetEasy on this, as our listing system shows the listing was public on January 10 and the offer was accepted on January 29, but we don’t have a contract date. Sigh.) Unless they are moving to a larger (more expensive) property in the same market, these sellers are pretty happy they did not sell 2 years ago.

Don’t rely on StreetEasy for the floor plan, either. That one is an alternate, the current floor plan is on the Corcoran listing; the difference is that the two northeast corner bedrooms in the alternate are now the “studio” (with a sink), and they’ve thoughtfully proposed a closet in the current second bedroom in the northwest corner. Though the loft has been “thoughtfully renovated”, they didn’t think need to include the studio in the renovation (note the exposed duct work in the studio compared to the clean lines of the central air elsewhere). The new owner will have to see to that. presumably the new owners like the rest of the stuff, including the

three full marble baths…. [and] open Poggenpohl kitchen complete with Sub-Zero refrigerator, Viking stove, Fisher Paykel dishwasher, double wine fridges, granite counter-tops, and a pantry closet

(The clearing price is sufficient to presume that.)

too many lofts in 2011, or not enough buyers?
When the 8th floor loft came out in 2011 at $3mm, two neighbors had just sold, at prices not favorable to the 8th floor effort. The 11th floor got $3.01mm on May 16, 2011, but that one was in much better condition than the way I read the 8th floor listing photos and broker babble. (I saw the 11th floor back in the day.) The 4th floor was a great disappointment to those sellers, and (likely) to the 8th floor owners, as it sold on March 7, 2011 at (only) $2.4mm, as I recounted in my April 29, 2011, floor plan envy, as 110 West 25 Street loft cuts + sells, that loft had “more than a little trouble discovering the right price”, having come out at $2.995mm in October and needing two price cuts to get the deal done. I didn’t see that one, but it sounds like at least the equal of the condition of the 8th floor, and likely better because there is no unimproved “studio” on the 4th floor.

Data-driven buyers were not interested in the 8th floor at $3mm in 2011 after the better (higher) loft got only $3.01mm and the equal or better (lower) loft got beaten down to $2.4mm. (Nor were any other buyers, for that matter.)

It was a good thing the 8th floor non-sellers-in-2011 waited out 2012 also, as the neighbors on the 9th floor sold for (only) $3.05mm on April 19, 2012. Didn’t see that one, either, but that one also reads and looks as at least equal to the 8th floor in quality (probably better, in fact). With the 11th floor at $3.01mm on May 16, 2011 and the 9th floor at $3.05mm 11 months later, it looked as though The Market had settled on a very rational approach to valuation in this small (10-unit) coop. So rational an approach as to approach unicorn Efficient Market status.

The Market has changed since that April 19, 2012 sale of the 9th floor, obviously. Once again: the 8th floor came out at $3.25mm on January 10 and had an accepted offer at $3.45mm by January 29. In a rational world, no data-driven buyer would have paid anywhere near that as recently as 11 months earlier (when the 9th floor went into contract). In a rational world, it would have taken a major shake-up for the 8th floor to get a $400,000 premium over the 9th floor (needing a studio fix, in addition).

I like to think that we live in a rational world, and that the 8th floor buyers were fully informed about past sales and what they might also be able to buy in 2013. At least two buyers thought the 8th floor was under-valued at $3.25mm in January, and one of them thought the right number is $3.45mm.

Repeat after me: the hyper-local Manhattan loft market at 110 West 25 Street is up more than 15% since 2011, and probably a similar premium over 2012.

© Sandy Mattingly 2013