man bites dog! 49 East 21 Street loft sells 3.6% above Peak

fresh filing, mature deed
It seems like only yesterday that Manhattan Loft Guy used “dog bites man” to indicate that a resale 6% off from the prior 2007 sale was not “news”, but it was really the day before yesterday (dog bites man + 90 Franklin Street loft sells off only 6% since 2007). There was a Happy 235th Birthday party in between.

But today’s news really is news: the Manhattan loft #4A at 49 East 21 Street recently sold for $1.85mm, after selling on January 24, 2008 (nearly as peak as peak can be) for $1.795mm. A modest gain of 3.6%, but in this sentence gain is a much more important word than modest.

The sale was on May 12, so it is not a fresh event, but the deed was not filed until July 2, so it is fresh as news.

there is only an incomplete explanation (if any)
With most exceptional occurrences, the fact that they are exceptional means that they are difficult to explain. In the context of a Manhattan loft world in which many lofts with paired sales around The Peak and recently show a 15% decline since The Peak (and other such lofts showed greater declines), going from $1.795mm to $1.85mm stands out. I can explain part of the reason that #4A out-performed The Market since The Peak, but only part.

The most recent broker babble is more enthusiastic than the 2007 edition, but nearly all of the loft was in the same condition then, with nearly the same proper proper names, as now. The floor plans are identical, then and now. Here is the only difference I see: what had been “two Kohler bathrooms” became “a Gracious En-Suite Master Bath w/His & Her Sinks, Bisazza tiles, Kohler, Toto & Watermark Fixtures”. Maybe the 2007 babble was incomplete, and could have said “two Kohler, Toto & Watermark bathrooms”, or maybe Toto and Waterworks fixtures were added between the $1.795mm sale and the $1.85mm sale. What would it cost to do that?

My guess si that you could do this in two baths for less than the $55,000 price gain, depending on how much tile re-work was required. So this still looks like a very healthy Peak-to-now resale,

Man bites dog, indeed.

© Sandy Mattingly 2011