first resale at Bullmoose lofts (42 East 20 Street) since nuclear winter re-sets values

seasons of change, indeed
When the Manhattan loft #8C at 42 East 20 Street (The Bullmoose) sold on December 22, it was the first sale in the building since 4 sales between April 30 and July 20, 2009 — in the teeth of the nuclear winter that fell on the overall Manhattan residential real estate market after the fall of the house of Lehman. Timing, as they say, is everything.

The four 2009 sales at The Bullmoose (a relatively small condo, with 22 units) must have reflected an unusually common bout of desperation, with 18% of the unit owners choosing to sell into a very tough market. Market watchers would clearly have understood the unusual market for those four sales, but the next seller in The Bullmoose should have expected to have to justify a higher price than the 2009 sales. #8C was up to the challenge, no doubt to the great relief of other unit owners.

Before we get to that relief, let’s look back at a few series of sales, each series of which is in a different set of market conditions than the ones around it.

Here are the four winterized sales:

This one found out that it had missed The Peak (the sale was at 22% off the February asking price), but got the sale done just as Lehman crashed. (Note the difference between #5A, above, and this sale 8 months earlier.)

Looking back a bit, way back to 2 full years before The Peak, picks up another three sales running up to The Peak, one of which you will recognize:

2 ways to spell R – E – L – I – E – F = #8C or #PHC
With this history, imagine how pleased unit owners were to see where the last sale came in:

Granted, this is without taking into account the “344 sq ft” terrace (#8C is a real penthouse!). Valuing that at 50% of the interior space, the adjusted line looks like this:

Note that this price-per-foot value is right in line with the post-Peak-pre-Lehman pricing of #3A. The roller coaster that has been the Manhattan loft market in the last four years is remarkably vividly represented in this small loft building.

Did I mention that #8C flew off the shelf, and that there seems to have been a little fighting involved?

Fun with numbers!

© Sandy Mattingly 2011