Thousands Of NYC Condos Stuck On The Market, Study Finds

NEW YORK — If you've ever wondered who lives in the glittering new towers changing New York City's skyline, there's a good chance the answer is no one. Thousands of Big Apple condominiums built in recent years have not been sold, leaving many pricey homes sitting empty, a new study shows.

Some 4,109 of the 16,242 condos built since the start of 2013 have gone unsold, meaning more than a quarter of the city's new condo units are stuck on the market, according to the StreetEasy report published Friday.

The numbers show how condo sales have failed to keep pace with a glut of construction, the report says. That's partly because most New Yorkers can't afford their high prices, StreetEasy says — the new units across the city have a median price of $1.1 million, while Manhattan's are going for a median of $2.3 million.

"(W)ith lofty price tags needed to cover the cost of their development, many of these new castles in the sky have failed to find kings or queens to live in them," StreetEasy senior economist Grant Long writes in the report.

Certain neighborhoods have even higher concentrations of unsold homes, according to the real estate website's review of public records and its own listings data.

More than two thirds of new condos remain unsold on the Lower East Side, where the 815-unit One Manhattan Square complex was just completed last year, the report says. Midtown West — home to the massive Hudson Yards development — has only seen 55 percent of its recently completed condos sold, while just 60 percent of Gramercy Park's units have moved, according to StreetEasy.

Investors are likely snapping up many of the new condos that have been sold, the study found. Close to 30 percent of them have shown up in StreetEasy's rental listings, indicating their original buyers want to flip them for a big profit in the future, the report says.

That pattern has shown up in newly developed areas such as Williamsburg and Long Island City as well as ritzy parts of Manhattan, according to the study.

"That so many buyers are placing heavy bets on their future ability to sell at a profit raises big questions about the sustainability of the current building boom," Long wrote. "How long do buyers plan to hold on to these condos, and what will happen to prices if too many look to sell at once?"

The city's recent building boom isn't showing signs of slowing down despite the dim sales trends, StreetEasy says. More than 5,600 units still under construction have been listed on the site, and they'll likely face more competition for buyers, according to the report.

"Everyone is scrambling to figure out how to move the inventory in an effective way," Vicky Barron, an agent with the Compass real estate firm, told The New York Times, which first reported on StreetEasy's study Friday.

Read StreetEasy's full report here.