B side of the hyper-local market at 51 Walker Street is up 25% since 2011

more or less, in theory
Of course a continual theme on Manhattan Loft Guy is how a specific data point (loft sale) relates to The market over time, often by reference to a specific set of market conditions in which the loft (or one like … er … comparable to it) did (or did not) sell. Of course there were a few such examples last week, and one about the 2011 market from the week before (July 19, 108 Reade Street loft goes to war, secretly, beats the heck out of 2011 market). In that vein, I present for your consideration the recent sale of the "1,642 sq ft" Manhattan loft #7B at 51 Walker Street, which just sailed through the market at $2.55mm, a slight premium to the ask, 2.5 years after the neighbor downstairs in the identical #6B had a bit of trouble finding a buyer, finally closing at $1.95mm.

You can do the math as easily as I, but in case you don’t want any trouble: that’s a $600,000 premium for #7B in June 2013 over #6B in January 2011, or 30%. We can assign some of that to the slightly better light on the slightly higher floor (neither boasted about views, only about light), but not a lot. (The developer thought the higher floor, including transfer taxes, was worth precisely $76,369 more when they both sold in January 2007.)

height matters, only a little
Neither the sets of broker babble not the sets of listing photos distinguish #7B from #6B in any way. But we do know in this building at which point height matters. In my September 25, 2012, height matters for 51 Walker Street lofts, even 2 floors, I hit the “A” line pair on the 6th and 8th floor, which then had sold at essentially the same time. The 8th floor catches an icon: “open sky and city views including the Chrysler Building”. That icon was worth 15%, or $295,000 in the slightly smaller (“1,550 sq ft”) ”A” line.

Add this post, and this information about values on the 6th, 7th and 8th floors in this specific building in northeast Tribeca, to any conversation you have with The Miller about valuing light without regard to views. I riffed with the guy in my December 3, 2012, how to value light without also valuing views? The Miller gives it a shot, NY Magazine gives it a forum. In this case, I don’t think it likely that the 7th floor light was worth 6-figures over the 6th floor light, so I would put the June 2013 premium over the January 2011 value at $500,000, or 25%. At least.

© Sandy Mattingly 2013