There were 187 contracts signed for new development projects last month, down 22 percent from the same period last year, according to Marketproof’s monthly magazine. report. That decline reflects the market segment’s decline, which has fallen about 21 percent year-over-year since early September.
Contract activity for new developments pales in comparison to the performance of the city as a whole, which has surged in recent months despite concerns about how Zohran Mamdani’s election in November could deter wealthy buyers. In November, total contracts in Manhattan increased by more than 20 percent compared to last year facts by Miller Samuel.
The perpetrator? A contracting pool of available new units. “It is tempting to blame the weak purchasing volume on the Mamdani elections, but there is no evidence for this,” Marketproof Kael Goodman said in a statement. “The simpler explanation is that inventory is low and new launches are scarce, meaning fewer buyers are finding what they want.”
In the second quarter of this year, the supply of new construction apartments in Manhattan hit a decade low with fewer than 3,600 unsold units, according to data previously shared with The real deal by Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group.
Project launches in Manhattan have been below the 10-year average for the past three years, but 2025 will be the year that dwindling supply takes hold as buyers clear the backlog of projects built up around Covid.
In November, 88 contracts were signed in Manhattan, up from 125 last year. Nearly double the number of new units came onto the market this fall compared to a year ago, but that rush followed few buildings hitting the market in the spring — just 225 units, compared to 511 last year, according to Marketproof.
The best-selling building in the neighborhood is Izaki Group’s Village West project at 525 Sixth Avenue, which scored 16 contracts in November and has already put more than half of its 68 units under contract since selling in September.
The community has seen a number of notable launches this fall, including MRR Development’s Malabar Residences at 126 East 57th Street, Related Companies’ 144-unit Upper East Side project called Strathmore and the highly anticipated conversion of the Flatiron Building into 38 ultra-luxury units. But none of them have made a meaningful contribution to the contract so far.
The metrics also continue to suffer from the fact that 80 Clarkson, the biggest launch of the year, is reporting no contracts despite evidence of off-market sales.
“Everything I said this year had an asterisk with 80 Clarkson next to it,” Goodman said. The real deal last week.
In Brooklyn, 79 new development contracts were signed in November, up from 110 last year.
This year’s fall sales launches in Brooklyn resulted in 172 new units hitting the market, a 50 percent drop from last year, according to Marketproof.
In 2024, the city launched a number of major projects, including One Domino Square and Williamsburg Wharf in North Brooklyn, totaling 249 units. The Bergen at Boerum Hill also launched its 105 units in 2024. These buildings have often been interspersed with the top-performing developments in the borough for much of their early sales cycles.
By comparison, the top-selling project in November was an eight-unit converted brownstone at 503 Clinton Ave., which signed six contracts last month.
Queens also slowed in November, with 20 contracts signed, compared to 30 last year. The municipality had not launched any new development until October, when Flushing’s Northern Center Condominium released 11 of its 135 sponsored units. In November, two boutique projects launched 13 combined units.
Last fall, Queens saw 361 new development units hit the market.
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