Press
Why mortgage rates and an election couldn't slow down new development
October had 293 contract signings, the most this year. The new-development market hit a high for the year in October.
Luxury home contract signings have surged this season, and both Manhattan and Brooklyn showed significant year-over-year growth, according to Marketproof's monthly report.
The 293 new-development contracts signed last month were the most since May 2023. Seventeen were for homes priced at $10 million or more, a top-five mark for any month in the past decade.
The October boom runs counter to the notions that "the market slows after Q3, that sales fall as mortgage rates rise, and that buyers press the 'pause' button before a presidential election," Marketproof CEO Karl Goodman stated. (The election effect is probably not real.)
But the Halloween-month flurry doesn't necessarily portend any larger cyclical changes, argued Jason Thomas, Brown Harris Stevens Development Marketing's head of research and analytics.
The month benefitted from the launch of two Naftali Group projects - 255 East 77th Street and The Henry at 211 West 84th Street-toward the end of September.
