New York City's competitive real estate market is apparently leaving out a growing number of people looking to sell their homes, according to a new survey.
Real estate listings website StreetEasy said that more than one in three sellers in the five boroughs were taking their homes off the market without finding a buyer, the survey conducted by The Harris Poll found. Sellers were also more likely to get stressed about putting a home on the market than most other major life events, like planning a wedding (76% said selling a home was more stressful), finding a job (70%) or getting a root canal (65%).
Researchers said buyers can be turned off if the asking price is even slightly higher than comparable listings, according to the survey, which also found that homes are less less likely to sell the longer they sit on the market.
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Chances of selling also drop if the owners try to sell it themselves, without the help of a realtor, the survey found.
There are a myriad of reasons why a seller may remove a listing before the home sold that have little to nothing to do with how it performed on the market, StreetEasy stated. It may have to do with how tricky the city's market dynamics are, deciding not to sell after all, or other personal reasons.
NYC real estate has never never been an easy landscape: Homes in the five boroughs take nearly six times longer to sell on average, with the median house spending 89 days on the market before entering a contract, the survey stated. That's compared to the national average of just 15 days.
Homes in the city are also considerably more expensive than the rest of the country: The median asking price for a NYC home was just under $1.1 million in Sept. 2023, according to StreetEasy, which is more than triple the national average. That means any home that is considered well-priced has intense competition — giving sellers the upper hand, as they are more likely to receive offers close to the asking price. Homes sold in September received more than 96% of the initial asking price, according to the Harris Poll.
Given the demand for housing in the city and the low inventory, many sellers are able to hold firm in their pricing rather than quickly reduce, the survey found — especially in Manhattan, where just 15% of sellers lowered their prices, the survey found.
