Jade loft resale at 16 West 19 Street is a strong price, but off 7% since 2007

measure against sponsor sale or $/ft?
The podilicious “1,336 sq ft” Manhattan loft #4E at 16 West 19 Street (Jade) just sold at a dollar per foot price that compares well to other resales in the building, but at a loss to the 2007 sponsor sale, illustrating the difficulty of figuring the best way to view the first resales in a new development. Let’s look first at the loft, then at the building history.

Unit #4E is one of the largest  non-penthouse units in the building, not only with “1,336 sq ft”, but with a floor plan that includes 2 bedrooms and 3 full baths. In this line, the pod is on an outside wall, rather than free-standing, an arrangement that might make it a trifle more conventional, and much more like a Pullman kitchen. As I have now said in probably each post about the building, the pod design conceit is a love-it-or-hate-it, feature-or-bug element. I can’t imagine that many people who need a real working kitchen would give Jade a second look, but there is probably a huge buyer pool for whom (as Triple Mint daid 6 years ago) the most important kitchen appliance is a corkscrew (see my June 30, 2006, the newest new kitchen (in Flatiron, not Chelsea, if that needs explanation).

To get back to my original question, it is hard ot know the best way to talk about new development resales. As I suggested, #4E at $1,171/ft ($1.565mm) compares well to most recent resales in this 2007 new development, but compared to the sponsor sale on November 29, 2007 at $1,680,112 that re-sale is down 6.8%. Of the 6 re-sales covered in my last two posts in the building (June 2, surprise: Jade loft re-sells +8% over 2007 purchase at 16 West 19 Street, and August 28, 2011, 3 sales around the break-even point at Jade, 16 West 19 Street lofts), only two were at higher price-per-foot values yet only two did worse on a percentage basis compared to the sponsor sale prices for each unit.

One day I will devote an entire post to the question of whether sponsor sale prices are truly market prices, but that day is not today . (Note to self …) For now, just accept that loft #4E at $1,172/ft looks like a pretty strong value in this building, despite the fact that it represented a loss for the 2007-buyer-turned-2012-seller.

© Sandy Mattingly 2012