505 Greenwich Street loft is up 8% since 2004, down 12% since 2006

in which it is better to have been the first owner than the second
Even if I had an easy way to search price histories for Manhattan lofts I don’t think I would find one quite like the zigging and zagging of #7B at 505 Greenwich Street. Back when I collected 27 resales in early 2010 (with deeds from November 2009 through March 2010) that had also sold in 2007 (Mar 5, 2010, data dump: 27 Manhattan lofts sold in 2007 + recently), both of those pole markets were different from the current market and the last market in which #7B sold. This market is deeper and no worse than flat compared to the November 2009 through March 2010 market I looked at then; the 2007 market I used as a base then was that much closer to The Peak than the market in which #7B last sold in July 2006 (frothy, but not as frothy, to channel Mr. Greenspan). Using those old market poles 10 months ago, there were few losers above 10%, and the losers disproportionately came from 2007 new development sales.

a surprising + funny business
All of which is a long introduction to this surprising history:

That July 2006 resale was 6 quarters before The Peak!

These sellers started out in April thinking that they might get close to that 2006 $1.735mm, but after 5 months asking $1.695mm they dropped to $1.595mm on September 30. That price (and a willingness to be slightly negotiable from there) got them a contract at $1.525mm by October 29. It’s funny how a 6% price drop can re-set The Market.

a short hop to Northwest Tribeca
This 2004 new development (full service, with gym and pet spa!) in the far western fringe of “Soho” is a very short walk across one major boundary to the 2002 no-frills new development in northwest Tribeca I hit on Sunday (January 30, 459 Washington St bounces back to the right price to sell). The adjoining lofts I talked about then were almost certainly not as nicely finished as the enthusiastically babbled #7B a short walk north (and they are rather larger), but they sold at values ($1,138/ft and $1,249/ft) that bracket the high-finish-high-amenity #7B ($1,192/ft). This suggests just how significant that oft-gridlocked section of Canal Street is as a border truly separating the many new developments in northwest Tribeca from the many new developments in far west “Soho”.

© Sandy Mattingly 2011