Brighter skies

REAL ESTATE • In Contract

Cause for celebration in this 100-year-storm of a housing market: The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate dipped below 7% last week for the first time since July. It’s still a long way to the sub-4% rates most homeowners are carrying, but with Fed cuts on the way in ’24, there’s finally some light at the end of the market’s congested tunnel of inventory. 

Add in a December stock market rally, and things are looking up on the demand side of the equation, too. That should perk up new development sales, per Marketproof’s Kael Goodman, who also expects the percentage of all-cash buyers to begin to decline.

And while the brighter skies aren’t yet apparent in the data, there are glimmers of sunshine, like these three terrace-forward listings, which all went into contract last week:

→ 52 Wooster St. PH (Soho, above) • 3BR/3.5BA, 4270 SF condo • Closing ask: $10.995M • Triplex with three terraces, including 1163 SF rooftop • Days on market: 195 • Monthly taxes: $10,038; common charges: $4753 • Broker: Kristina Paces & Ryan Serhant, Serhant.

→ 378 Broome Street, Unit 2 (Nolita) • 3BR/2.5BA, 2180 SF condo • Closing ask: $5.995M • Four-unit boutique development • Days on market: 179 • Monthly taxes: $5108; common charges: $2401 • Broker: Scott Hustis, Compass.

→ 23 East 74th St. 14ABCDE (Upper East Side) • 4BR/3.5BA, 2400 SF co-op • Closing ask: $4.25M • Glass solarium and two separate wings • Days on market: 92 • Monthly maintenance: $8048 • Broker: Nikki Field, Sotheby’s.