Training And Housing Our Holiday Spirit!

Here’s a live feed from a locomotive on the Norwegian State Railway – try watching it for hours instead of getting ready for your holiday guests to come over.

But I digress…

A Record Number Of Record Sales in 2021 And The Year Isn’t Over

Back in 2014, I began to track U.S. residential home sales that closed at or above $50 million. I started to see signs that someone new was brewing in 2012 and 2013 with a slew of crazy high-priced listings. The effort has now morphed into a daily or weekly occurrence and it is clear that after eight years of collecting a steady streem of sales, it become a new market subset. Its a market of outliers, if you will, and representative of the rise in global wealth disparity. These sales have little to nothing to do with the local market they sit within. Additional sales continued to be captured after these stories were published about my list:

Super-Luxury Home Sales Surge Across U.S., Rising 35% in 2021 [Bloomberg]

Luxury Home Sales Grew by 35% This Year [Robb Report]

Super-luxury home sales in 2021 notched a record-shattering year [The Real Deal]

Mortgage Rates Drop To Close Out 2021

I can’t help but think that each time we have a new COVID variant outbreak, mortgage rates will fall or stop rising.

NYC City Market Conditions Have Come Back Sharply Since The Pandemic Lockdown

Here’s a five-borough market summary through the third quarter that we’ve created with comparisons to the prior quarter, prior year, and 2 years ago. That third quarter of 2020 looked very bleak across the city.

NYC Real Estate Market Residential Brief 3Q 2021 [Miller Samuel]

And here are a collection of NYC charts by borough…

New Manhattan Townhouse Chart Series

We currently publish an annual Manhattan Townhouse Report for Douglas Elliman (2021 will be released in about a month), but we also chronicle the Manhattan townhouse market with quarterly charts. They’re in our chart gallery and here’s a sample:

Getting Graphic

My favorite charts of the week of our own making

My favorite charts of the week made by others

Len Kiefer‘s Chart Handiwork

Appraiserville

(For earlier appraisal industry commentary, visit my old clunky REIC site.)

The past year has been an adventure for hard-working appraisers across the U.S. but I look forward to 2022 and have these thoughts to share:

– I thank all of my Appraiserville readers for their willingness to stay informed despite heavy work volume and for sharing their feedback (and documents!)

– I continue to be refreshed by the thought that many of you made a real difference in the fight against corruption of our national leadership.

– I’m fairly optimistic about the probability of TAF getting PAVED, bringing an end to TAF’s incredible byzantine bureaucracy, (including the writing of bat-shit crazy letters), that appraisers end up needlessly paying for while they also damage the public trust.

– I believe that work levels in 2022 will remain elevated but not as high as 2021 as mortgage rates edge up a bit. I don’t think that a little lower work volume is a bad thing for most of us. Many of my peers around the U.S. are getting burned out with the 24/7 volume.

– And most of all, I am energized and cherish the close friendships I have made in the process of bringing transparency to an industry that was once counted on for inaction by its “lone wolf” members. No more!

Best wishes for a wonderful holiday to all of you.

OFT (One Final Thought)

I loved this Pink Floyd documentary. Even if you’re not a die-hard fan, its only an hour but it captures the multiple phases of creative control among its personnel. I discovered the band in college and drove my roommates crazy as they were more interested in the glam rock of the late seventies like Journey, Styx, Boston, REO Speedwagon, etc. Perhaps the ability to annoy others is why I enjoyed Pink Floyd so much! P.S. Don’t ever call them “THE Pink Floyd.”

Brilliant Idea #1

If you need something rock solid in your life (particularly on Friday afternoons) and someone forwarded this to you, or you think you already subscribed, sign up here for these weekly Housing Notes. And be sure to share with a friend or colleague if you enjoy them because:

– They’ll be more seasonal;
– You’ll be more seasoned;
– And I’ll use more pepper.

Brilliant Idea #2

You’re obviously full of insights and ideas as a reader of Housing Notes. I appreciate every email I receive and it helps me craft the next week’s Housing Note.

See you next week.

Jonathan J. Miller, CRP, CRE, Member of RAC
President/CEO
Miller Samuel Inc.
Real Estate Appraisers & Consultants
Matrix Blog
@jonathanmiller

Reads, Listens and Visuals I Enjoyed

My New Content, Research and Mentions

Recently Published Elliman Market Reports

Appraisal Related Reads

Extra Curricular Reads