Muss Development Sees Higher Condo Sales Rate
By Keat Foong, Executive Editor
October 28, 2009 – New York, N.Y.—The condo sales pace has picked up for at least one developer.
The 448-unit mixed-use Sky View Parc in Flushing, Queens, has registered an increase in the number of condominiums sold this fall, according to Jason Muss, principal at Muss Development LLC.
Muss says that in September through October so far, the development has sold 10 condo units. This compares to July and August when only three units were sold.
“Things are improving. The mood and traffic in the sales office has definitely gotten much better,” says Muss. “The housing market has picked up a lot in the past four months. It was really bad in the winter.”
The Third Quarter Prudential Douglas Elliman Manhattan Market Overview shows that in Manhattan at least, the number of condominium sales declined in the third quarter by16 percent to 2,230 sales compared to 2,654 sales from the same period last year. However, the sales rate in the third quarter increased by 45.6 percent compared to the previous quarter when 1,532 units were sold.
Muss says he is also seeing more serious buyers, and not just lookers who are kicking the tires. “People are looking to buy. They are not just shopping. They appear very serious about what they want to do.”
Muss attributes the increased sales rate in condominiums to the improved economy, as well as the quality and value offered by the development. He says the first-time homebuyer tax credit may also have a limited positive effect on sales rate. He says Sky View Parc is now in a more finished state, which further helps encourage sales.
Also making the development attractive to condo buyers, Sky View Parc has signed on a number of retail tenants, including BJ’s Wholesale Club, Target, Best Buy, Marshall’s, Staples, Bob’s Discount Furniture, Applebee’s and Bed, Bath and Beyond. The 800,000-sq.-ft. retail space is currently 85 percent leased.
“People really want to live above convenient shopping stores,” says Muss. “It also helps when the retail is most competitively priced.”
Prices of the condominiums at the two towers that are open for sales, Towers 1 and 3, range from the high-$300,000s to $1.4 million. Most units are offered at the high-$300,000 to low-$400,000 price range, says Muss. Units range from studios to three bedrooms, measuring from 575- to 1,800-sq. ft.
At $600 per sq. ft., Sky View Parc’s prices compare favorably with competing condos in other neighborhoods, says Muss. In Williamsburg, Brooklyn, he says, condo prices are $800 to $900 per sq. ft.
Muss says Sky View Parc offers a range of price points and unit sizes to cater to a broad spectrum of buyers and age groups. He says the larger, two- and three-bedroom units may have been more popular lately. Tower 3 is currently 70 percent sold, and Tower 1 is 40 percent sold, says Muss.
