Closings fell sharply even as Manhattan prices held and Brooklyn caught its breath
Manhattan’s housing market ended 2025 with a striking split: sales volume plunged, yet prices mostly held firm.
According to Coldwell Banker Warburg’s Q4 2025 Market Update, closed sales in Manhattan fell to 2,467 for the quarter, down 15% year over year and nearly 32% from Q3.
Brooklyn saw a similar pattern, with 2,115 closed sales, a roughly 22% annual drop and a 32% quarterly slide, underscoring how quickly deal flow cooled as the year wound down.
In that context, pricing resilience stood out. Manhattan’s median sale price reached about $1.15 million in Q4, up roughly 3% from a year earlier but 2.5% below Q3.
Brooklyn’s median price came in at $995,000, flat year over year and down 7% quarter to quarter. Those moves suggested a market driven more by seasonality and listing mix than by outright price capitulation, even as buyers took longer to commit.
“The Manhattan market ended 2025 on a quietly steady note,” wrote Kevelyn Guzman, regional vice president of Coldwell Banker Warburg, in the report.
“As expected, activity pulled back into the usual year-end lull, but prices largely held their ground.”
Guzman said the quarter highlighted a pronounced “sorting” dynamic.
“Well-priced, standout inventory continued to transact, while more marginal listings took longer to trade, a distinction further contrasted across the luxury divide,” she wrote.
In Manhattan, days on market ticked up from Q3 but remained close to last year’s rhythm, while listing discounts widened only modestly, suggesting controlled negotiation rather than distressed selling.
Looking ahead, Guzman struck a cautiously constructive tone on Manhattan. “Manhattan’s firmer footing, namely disciplined supply and steady pricing, augurs a productive spring season,” she wrote, adding that well-presented, correctly priced listings were likely to move while weaker product lingered. Brooklyn’s trajectory appeared less defined.
There, she wrote, “Brooklyn seems to be catching, or perhaps holding, its breath as it awaits 1Q26’s re‑engagement,” with buyers described as “lilypad‑like” and focused on well-located, well-priced homes.
Mortgage Year in Review: Mark S. Fisher of UNMB Hoam Loans Inc. spotlights the “Mamdani effect,” with NYC’s affluent buyers driving record activity in Westchester, northern NJ, and Connecticut suburbs.https://t.co/wf6bmnfuev
— Mortgage Professional America Magazine (@MPAMagazineUS) December 30, 2025
Broader mortgage trends are likely to shape how that seasonal re‑engagement played out. The Mortgage Bankers Association projected mortgage rates to hover above 6%, with national home-price growth flattening as inventory gradually improved.
MBA chief economist Mike Fratantoni said that as supply improved and rates cooled, “in more and more markets around the country, it’s going to be a buyer’s market as opposed to a seller’s market.”
In a market where buyers are selective and sellers largely hold firm, growth in 2026 is likely to come from capturing share in a slowly thawing, purchase‑driven environment rather than betting on a rapid, rate‑driven rebound.
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