More than 18 months have passed since the global pandemic began in early spring 2020. The economic disruption, especially the closing of U.S. borders, led to a crash of New York City’s real estate market, which bottomed at lows not seen since the late 1980s.
Throughout 2020, panicked wealthy residents fled the city, precipitating a boom in residential real estate in New Jersey, Long Island and Westchester suburbs, as well as in warmer locations such as Florida and Texas.
This autumn, however, with the city finally getting the upper hand against Covid-19, cash-rich real estate buyers from across the U.S. and the globe are once again storming the Big Apple in hopes of getting a bite of it.
Manhattan inventory is high, with about 7,700 listings now offered. Most of the demand frenzy is taking place at the high end. Prominent penthouses and spacious condo apartments are again seeing bidding wars, and deals are rapidly concluded.
Veteran realtors say that more apartments are now sold than at any other time since the early 1990s; an estimated 4,500 Manhattan condo and co-op deals closed in Q3. This was unimaginable a year ago during a time of mass exodus from the city.
This fall, the median sales price in Manhattan is averaging $1.1 million, which is up 8.8 percent from the same time two years ago. Sales among one-bedroom co-ops and condos are leading the pack.
As prices rise, it’s important for buyers to find a broker who they can trust and rely on. Trulia, Realtor.com, and Zillow are leaders when it comes to connecting millions of buyers and sellers. However, a new challenger is entering the market, offering a highly disruptive solution that’ll give enormous advantages specifically to real estate agents.
Long-time New York City real estate brokers King Li and Brian Ngo created a tool tailored to brokers and developers that assists in many aspects. Lystings is an all-in-one mobile app that saves time, effort and money with a variety of features, from listings boards to an in-app messenger, as well as open-house booking and a unique QR-Code for each listing.
“Agents are moving away from Zillow because it keeps all the leads generated from its website to its advantage,” said Mr Li. “It costs agents their money, in the thousands, to subscribe to the premium service in order to buy back the lead.”
Lystings is the only player in the market that has an automated QR code generated for each listing; agents can use the unique code for marketing and create an instant call-to-action to get additional exposure. Also, the app allows direct contact and booking with agents.
There are 3 million active agents in the U.S., and so far, over 500 agents have subscribed to Lystings. The potential for growth is huge in the U.S., a country with almost 120 million occupied housing units.
With the subscription model you’ll have an assistant who’ll help with obtaining information on a listing and to customize your profile that of course enhances personal branding.
“Lystings offer realtors an all-in-one solution to manage real estate needs from residential to commercial,” said Mr Li. “We’ve added team features that allow brokers to seamlessly share information among their members and clients to boost sales.”
In the coming months, as New York City’s real estate market soars to new heights, everything will be different. A new era of technology is disrupting the real estate market, and thanks to Lystings, real estate agents will be much better equipped to serve clients and at the same time to profit more from their labors, instead of letting those opportunities go to the major digital platforms that have controlled the market over the past decade.
For more information please go to Lystings’ official website: http://www.lystings.co
