Think elevated rates and inflation aren’t impacting the rich? Think again. Hugo Cox at the Financial Times writes that rising mortgage rates deter buyers while even homes in New York’s most glamorous neighborhoods struggle to sell.
Charlotte, who is in her late sixties and impatient to move to Florida, has cut the price of her two-bedroom Upper East Side apartment by a fifth, to $2mn. After three months without a suitable offer, Amy Schwab Owens gave up trying to sell her Chelsea apartment — despite cutting the price by $300,000, to $3.25mn — and has started renting it out instead. Since she listed it in September, Jen Insardi has been waiting for an acceptable offer on her $7.995mn, four-bedroom condo in Tribeca, which she has spent more than two years renovating.
Another Problem. Even if some home sellers decide to cut prices some buyers are will continue to wait. Why? For many homeowners looking to upsize, that means not just a higher price but also a higher rate…
Josh, 31, who works for a major US bank, and his wife bought their first home — a one-bedroom flat in Midtown — in 2019, borrowing at 2.25 per cent.
The couple are expecting their first child in April and would like to move to somewhere larger. “But if we sold now, I would give up my mortgage rate and have to borrow again at over 6 per cent until rates fall and I can refinance,”
It turns out that the wealthy housing market is not much different from the traditional housing market. The rich Are just like us!