NYC Multifamily Sales Drop As Market Weighs Mamdani Impacts
The normally busy fourth quarter in New York City's investment sales market was unusually cool as residents elected a Democratic socialist mayor who campaigned on a rent freeze.
Manhattan investment sales hit $2.7B during Q4, down from $4.9B in the prior three months, according to Avison Young data provided to Bisnow. Multifamily sales took the biggest hit of all asset classes, with dollar volumes plummeting by 57% quarter-over-quarter, even as the number of sales fell by just 3%.
Political uncertainty under the new mayoral administration pushed some multifamily owners to sell buildings they had held onto for years, Avison Young brokers said.
“Have we had meetings where New York families — I'm talking about ones who have owned here for decades — who are like, ‘I'm pulling the rip cord’? Yes,” Avison Young Head of U.S. Investment Sales James Nelson said in an interview. “Are they the majority? Absolutely not.”
Zohran Mamdani's election was the final straw for some sellers, who had endured rent freezes under former Mayor Bill de Blasio and later had their ability to raise rents stunted by the 2019 rent stabilization laws.
Transactions paused briefly right around the election as people digested the news but quickly resumed as normal, said Brandon Polakoff, Avison Young principal and head of NYC investment sales.
“We have a new mayor that isn't necessarily pro-landlord,” he said. “You're seeing a lot of people just saying, ‘You know what? I think it's time. I'm not prepared to wait another five years.’”
Appetite to buy, meanwhile, has remained strong as rents have climbed to historic highs and vacancy is at an all-time low. The price per square foot in Manhattan multifamily was up 46% from the prior quarter to $1,005, indicating investors are wagering that the city’s rental apartment market will continue to see rent growth.
The two highest-priced multifamily sales in Q4 were the Permanent Mission of the State of Qatar’s $33.3M sale of 765 First Ave., which has 32 residential units and traded for $2,157 per SF, to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Wharton Properties' $32.7M sale of the 22-unit 90 Bedford St., hitting $2,098 per SF, to Hikari Power.
“One thing that we have not seen is investors pull back,” Nelson said. “Investors are still transacting.”
Sales in Manhattan for all of 2025 totaled $18.5B, a 13% increase from 2024 that was largely fueled by the office market, which accounted for 62% of the fourth quarter's dollar volume. After the city's first billion-dollar office deal in three years closed in Q3, office sales were down 28% in Q4.
On the year, $5.7B of office buildings transacted, a roughly 62% jump from 2024 and a sign that investors have bought in on the comeback of the asset class.
Land sales carried their strong Q3 performance through the end of the year. Roughly $2.1B worth of Manhattan development sites traded hands in 2025, up 33% from 2024 and the biggest total since 2018, according to Avison Young.
The increase is largely being fueled by condo developers, who are watching sale prices increase as the city’s inventory faces an impending supply cliff, Nelson said.
The median condo sale price increased by 2.3% between the end of 2024 and 2025, fueled by resales as inventory continued to decline, Douglas Elliman’s most recent quarterly report shows.
In certain neighborhoods, such as the Upper West Side, that supply strain is predicted to continue: Corcoran Sunshine predicted a 95% drop in condo delivery in the submarket over the next three years compared to 2016 to 2019, with prices already soaring as buyers jostle for units.
Closer Properties paid $62.6M for an Upper East Side assemblage, one of the largest land deals of the quarter for a neighborhood where condo sellouts are averaging north of $4K per SF, according to Avison Young.
“We saw great activity for land for luxury condo development,” Nelson said. “I think that's where investors are seeing the opportunity.”
