Co-op and Condo Sales Surge Despite Economic Uncertainty

High mortgage rates? Tariff uncertainty? Recession fears?

Fuhgeddaboudit.

Co-op and condo buyers in Brooklyn and Manhattan — particularly those flush with cash — ignored the static in the air and powered a surge in sales in April, Crain's reports. In Manhattan, signings for co-ops were up 45%, and those for condos were up 36% from April 2024. In Brooklyn, there were 62% more contracts signed for co-ops and 20% more signed for condos last month than in April 2024, according to a new report from Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel.

“New York continues to see growth in new signed contracts,” says the appraiser Jonathan Miller, author of the report. “We're just seeing a universal increase across the board, and this has been going on since last summer, despite the election and the tariffs.”

The trend runs counter to those in the national market, where high interest rates have kept contracts essentially flat, Miller adds. New York — especially Manhattan — distinguishes itself by having a higher share of cash buyers, who are less sensitive to interest-rate fluctuations.

With Manhattan co-ops, most contracts were signed for units asking less than $2 million, but the higher end of the market saw particularly high growth. Listings for co-ops asking between $4 million and $5 million saw a year-over-year boost of 200% in contracts signed. The $5 million-to-$10 million market saw 233% more contracts signed in April than in the same month last year.

The numbers were not as dramatic among condos. But condos asking between $5 million and $10 million still saw an increase of 59% in the number of contracts signed year over year.

In Brooklyn, a greater number of contracts for sales were signed at the lower end of the market. There was only one contract signed for a co-op asking more than $4 million and four for condos in the same price range. However, there was still growth. The biggest increase was with co-ops asking between $1 million and $2 million, where contracts rose 140%.

The overall growth was aided by an increase in listings, Miller says. In Manhattan, listings rose by 21% for co-ops and 27% for condos in April compared to April 2024. In Brooklyn, there were 21% more listings for co-ops and 40% more listings for condos in that period.