A report from the Wall Street Journal on New York. "After slowing for several years, the Manhattan apartment market dropped to a new low in 2018, as co-op and condominium sales fell to the lowest level since the economy last bottomed out in 2009. In an unusual shift for the typically optimistic real-estate industry, some brokers have been urging some buyers to wait if they can because prices may be lower next year."

"Louise Phillips Forbes, a broker at Halstead Real Estate, said she is telling older retirees who are downsizing their homes to sell now and wait to buy. 'It will be better to buy after prices go down to maximize retirement funds,' she said. 'Patience is your friend.'"

"Brokers say that the Manhattan market was hit by a perfect storm of other problems, after several euphoric years when sales and asking prices rose rapidly."

"'It is definitely challenging to be an agent in this market,' said Shaun Osher, founder of brokerage CORE Real Estate. Mr. Osher said many sellers are reluctant to lower asking prices, while buyers want to have their pick of property at any price. 'The vultures are swarming,' he said."

"Gregory J. Heym, the chief economist for brokerages Brown Harris Stevens and Halstead, said that 'negotiability is expanding.' But when brokers want to know when sales will come in again, he tells them: 'when sellers cut their prices enough.'"

"The Manhattan slowdown began among the most expensive apartments but has more recently spread across the entire market, with sales of apartments for less than $1 million falling by 8.3%."

From Financial Advisor Magazine. "Ten people (or companies, or people masquerading as companies) spent a combined half-billion dollars on their Manhattan apartments this year. Impressive as it might seem, the numbers are down significantly from the previous three years."

"Moreover, in the last 12 months, eight out of the top 10 sales were heavily discounted—one apartment at 157 West 57th street took a $17 million price cut before it found a buyer."

"There’s a chance the top of the market has lower to go. 'We should think of these prices as an anomaly,' says Jonathan Miller, chief executive officer of appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. 'I don’t know if the demand exists for another wave of ultra-luxury units entering onto the market.'"

"The record-breaking sales, he continues, were bound to peter out. 'I think frankly this was a circus sideshow rather than something integral to the balance of the housing market.'"

"And so discounts abound—for those that can afford them. But before readers rush to lowball apartments everywhere, and developers stop building their super-tall towers, Miller adds a caveat. 'I can’t imagine the top of the market being any higher, although I thought the same thing in ‘08,' he says. 'Now we have stuff that’s twice as high.'"

The Westchester Journal News. "Some expensive property sales in Rockland and Westchester sparked optimism in the luxury housing market in 2018 even though residential sales have been soft at the top in general."

"Big sales in 2018 appear to have been driven by listing discounts. Sellers who realized their properties were not selling reduced their 'aspirational' asking price to meet the market reality, said Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel Real Estate Appraisers & Consultants."

"'The only difference between these (sold properties) and the ones that didn’t sell is that the sellers of these properties recognized actual market conditions and net the buyer,' he said."

"The $12.75 million sale of a 10,441-square-foot waterfront property in Rye City is an example. The estate — with 1,100 square feet of direct waterfront on Long Island Sound including a private peninsula — was originally listed at $22 million in 2014 and has been relisted several times, with the price reduced by a couple of million dollars a time. The property was sold in July."

"Stacey Oestreich, real estate agent with Douglas Elliman, who had the listing since 2017 along with her colleague Nancy Strong, said wealthy buyers who are willing to spend north of $10 million for a home sit back and wait, particularly in a buyer's market, because they have no time or financial constraints."

"'They may be tracking properties that they like quite a while. When they are ready to make an offer, they do it,' she said. 'The right buyer came at the right price. They paid the fair market value.'"