With President Obama announcing the extension of Bush tax cuts, the anticipation of a healthy bonus season on Wall Street, and still ridiculously low mortgage rates, the winter Manhattan real estate market seems to be poised for an increase in sales volume.
Anecdotally, our agents at HPG and colleagues at firms across the city and in the Hamptons are hearing a positive buzz indicating that more buyers will be entering the fray in early 2011. This expectation paired with a recent lull in inventory will likely bring a great deal of frustration for buyers and an opportunity for sellers with perhaps even a short-term bump in prices. Several of our clients have switched back to thoughts of buying versus renting as they feel that money is cheap and for many will also be plentiful.
Now I’m sure the concept of some being flush with dough right now makes most people in this country’s stomach turn but it is what it is. The fact is that as long as those with cash keep pumping it back into our economy we have a much greater chance of recovering from the economic mess that has plagued this country for years. Now if we could only convince the government and the Fed to stop printing money and meddling in an effort to avoid pain, perhaps we would see some real long term progress. The avoidance of pain in the short term leads to only one thing…more pain in the long term.
