Wow. “In April, buyers paid entirely in cash for 64 percent of the homes sold in Manhattan, according to Marketproof, a provider of New York City real estate data. In contrast, cash buyers accounted for 39 percent of April sales in large U.S. metro areas.”
“In New York, “cash buyer” might bring to mind an oligarch who parks millions in a palatial apartment that sits empty most of the year. But a New York Times analysis of recent sales paints a far more expansive portrait… They worked in health care, tech, fashion and the arts.”
“They got the cash by selling stock or a previous home, or from their parents, or from years of saving. The places they bought touched every corner of Manhattan, from the city’s most exclusive condos to its most affordable co-ops… the cheapest cash closing was a $250,000 studio.”
“As cash buyers extend their reach into the bottom of Manhattan’s market, they create another barrier for buyers who depend on mortgages. For many Americans, homeownership is the gateway to building wealth, and the overwhelming majority of first-time buyers use mortgages.”
“Family money plays an outsize role in Manhattan real estate, &many of the buyers interviewed for this article relied, one way or another, on funds passed down from the previous generation. Americans aged 60-78 hold half of the nation’s wealth, &will pass on $16 trillion of it over the next decade”
You would think this is a bad thing for banks given how much money they make from mortgages, but clearly not so bad that they have any creative solutions
Believe this is a function of interest rates as much as anything (remembering that for coops high monthlies are a double burden—you need at least a year, usually two, in liquid assets post-closing).
