Nearly 70% of New Yorkers paid cash for home in Manhattan where average price is $2M: report

Published

2 years ago

January 9, 2024

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A record number of New Yorkers are dishing out cash to nab a home in Manhattan, where the average digs run for $2 million.

Cash sales in the Big Apple made up a staggering 67.9% of transactions in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to the latest quarterly survey of Manhattan sales from appraisers Miller Samuel and brokerage giant Douglas Elliman.

The figure, which usually hovers around 50%, “exceeds two-thirds of all sales to reach a record-high market share,” according to the report.

It also represents a stark increase from the 55% of wealthy homebuyers who paid for their pad in cash in December 2022.

Tim Malone, a luxury real estate advisor on the Steven Cohen Team and Douglas Elliman, told The Post that he’s seen this cash trend “all year long.”

“The sky-high mortgage rates have had a direct impact on buying trends, especially in the luxury market,” added Malone, whose current listings go for between $650,000 and $20 million.

“More than half of my buy side deals were all cash last year,” he said.

As of Thursday, the average 30-year fixed home loan is 6.62%, according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac — double what it was in January 2022, when rates started surging as the Federal Reserve began its aggressive tightening regime, which has lifted the benchmark federal funds rate to a 22-year high.

By paying cash, deep-pocketed homebuyers with ample liquid assets are skirting interest rates altogether.

The housing market has threatened to price out middle- and lower-class buyers over the past year as monthly mortgage rates have risen to cost more than monthly rent payments — so much so that the commercial real estate firm CBRE found that in October, the average monthly mortgage payment was a whopping 52% higher than the average monthly rent on a house or apartment.

Traditionally, monthly mortgage rates cost the same or less than monthly rent payments on an apartment which had been the case from 1996 to mid-2003 since owners tend to put more cash into their homes than tenants because of expenses like repairs and renovations.

In the lead up to the 08 market crash, the mortgage premiums peaked at 33% in the second quarter of 2006.

However, the script was flipped due to the increased cost of debt, high rates on a benchmark 30-year home loan — which peaked at 8% late last year — coupled with low housing supply.

These same factors give homeowners an incentive to stay put, as even downsizing to take advantage of lower sticker prices doesnt make sense given higher mortgage rates.

The higher rates also discourage homeowners who locked in low rates two years ago from selling.

In a bid to combat low housing stock, Wall Street firms are working to create so-called “build-to-rent communities.”

The new homes come equipped with modern flooring and furnishings that are designed to withstand years of wear and tear, thus saving the companies a hefty sum on maintenance costs while also being attractive to tenants.

There are some 900 neighborhoods nationwide with this build-to-rent model in mind, according to the National Association of Home Builders, each boasting an average of between 135 and 150 homes designed for institutional investors to own them and rent them out to single families.

Like most businesses, Wall Street real estate investors are looking at the economies of scale, Ted Jenkin, the founder and CEO of Atlanta-based oXYGen Financial, told The Post earlier this week.

If you can buy one plot of land, build a similar style house with similar materials it becomes much cheaper and cost efficient for your outcomes.

Environment

Fiat launches beachy Topolino Vilebrequin as Stellantis ramps up EV production

Published

3 hours ago

July 20, 2025

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Fiat launches beachy Topolino Vilebrequin as Stellantis ramps up EV production

Fiat Celebrates the Advent of Summer With the Topolino Vilebrequin, an Easygoing Beach Car

The Fiat Topolino Vilebrequin is a new beach town cruiser that captures the elegance, glamour, and relaxed vibe of the French Riviera. More significantly, the updated EV also heralds Stellantis’ plans to double EV production at its Kenitra Assembly Plant in Morocco.

Closer to a Mercury Villager Nautica or Ford F-150 Harley-Davidson than a new model on its own, the new Topolino Vilebrequin features colors and fabrics inspired by the French surfwear brand, and is based on the Dolcevita version of Stellantis’ electric microcar. With its open sides, a soft rollback roof, and turtle-tastic fabric prints, it’s ready to whisk you off on a carefree summer adventure in France or Italy – which are, coincidentally, the only two markets the “collector’s edition” Vilebrequin Topolino is currently available in.

“This encounter between the Fiat Topolino and our iconic sea turtle gave rise to a high-quality, lower-impact, and perfectly whimsical design,” says Roland Herlory, CEO of Vilebrequin. “(It is) the definitive summer toy, and the perfect witness to sun-soaked memories still to come.”

Like the standard Topolino, the new Vilebrequin model remains electronically limited to a top speed of 45 kph (just under 30 mph), and is equipped with a 5.5 kWh battery pack that ensures up to 75 km (about 45 miles) of electric range. Prices start at €13,490 ($15,810), and if you don’t want one you’re dead inside.

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Fiat Topolino Vilebrequin

The Vilebrequin Topolino is just the latest version of Stellantis’ electric microcar platform that underpins the Citroën Ami, Opel Rocks-e, and Fiat Topolino. Annual production of the little EVs has grown from 20,000 units and is reportedly on track for 70,000 in 2025.

Now, Mopar Insiders is reporting that number is about to get even bigger. Stellantis’ Chief Operating Officer (COO) for the Middle East & Africa (MEA) region, Samir Cherfan, announced plans to more than double the production capacity at the company’s Kenitra Assembly Plant in Morocco, from some 230,000 vehicles per year to more than 530,000.

The factory was opened in 2019, and the planned €1.2 billion ($1.4B) expansion is expected to add around 3,100 new jobs to the factory’s employee roster.

SOURCE | IMAGES: Stellantis.

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Business

Lakeland-owner Hilco eyes swoop for stricken jeweller Claire’s

Published

5 hours ago

July 20, 2025

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Lakeland-owner Hilco eyes swoop for stricken jeweller Claire's

The prolific high street investor which owns Lakeland and has backed chains including HMV and Superdry is sizing up a takeover of the UK operations of Claire’s, the struggling jewellery chain.

Sky News understands that Hilco Capital, which was also one of the recent bidders for Poundland, is among the parties expected to submit offers for Claire’s in the coming weeks, according to banking sources.

Other parties expected to examine offers for Claire’s British chain, which trades from about 280 stores, would include Alteri Investors and Modella Capital, which recently bought WH Smith’s high street chain.

The Telegraph reported earlier this month that Claire’s had hired Interpath Advisory to find a buyer for the UK business as it explores options – including bankruptcy – for its US-based operations.

Prospective buyers of the business have been told that a sale of the British chain could lead to significant numbers of store closures.

One retail industry boss speculated that as many as a third of the UK shops could be axed in a deal to salvage the rest of the chain, potentially putting hundreds of jobs at risk.

Claire’s has been a fixture in British shopping centres and on high streets for decades.

Houlihan Lokey, the investment bank, is advising on the sale of the US arm.

Claire’s, which is reported to trade from 2,000 stores globally, is owned by former creditors Elliott Management and Monarch Alternative Capital following a previous financial restructuring.

Hilco could not be reached for comment on Sunday.

Politics

Embedding human rights into crypto isn’t optional, it’s foundational

Published

5 hours ago

July 20, 2025

admin

Embedding human rights into crypto isn’t optional, it’s foundational

Embedding human rights into crypto systems is a necessity. Self-custody, privacy-by-default, and censorship-resistant personhood must be core design principles for any technology. The future of digital freedom depends on it.