From The Bridge: In a Buyer’s Market for Condos, a Brooklyn ‘Flash Sale’ Is Telling

From The Bridge yesterday, my article, In a Buyer’s Market for Condos, a Brooklyn ‘Flash Sale’ Is Telling:

Dramatic, desperate, or maybe both? To get the final 32 units sold at the 550 Vanderbilt condominium in Brooklyn, developed by Greenland Forest City Partners, uber-broker Ryan Serhant, of Million Dollar Listing fame, has alerted real estate brokers to a flash sale.
“On this Sunday (December 2nd) we will have a 1-day, 20% OFF SALE from 11am – 4pm,” Serhant wrote in a message to brokers this week, inviting potential buyers in for previews. “Happy Bidding :)” The building, which has 278 units, has faced a roller-coaster ride of sales, strategies, and even a Million Dollar Listing episode in the last three years.
If the flash sale might seem a stunt—would they really decline to offer discounts later?—a citywide slowdown in condo sales reflects a clear buyer’s market. Recent quarterly reports by the real estate brokerages Corcoran and Stribling indicated sales slowing in pricier parts of Brooklyn. Warburg Realty cited “[o]ffers 20% and 25% below asking prices … a phenomenon last seen in 2009,” though it suggested Brooklyn sales at prices below $2 million were reasonably healthy.
The competition among discounted condos in the city is mounting....

For the rest of the article, click here.