What is “negotiability” and how does it help me?
In a world where most aggregate stats are meaningless, negotiability is a stat that can still tell you a lot about the market.
It’s also known as a “listing discount” — it’s the percentage off the listing price that an apartment actually sells for.
If an aparment is listed at $500,000 and sells for $475,000, its “negotiability” was 5%.In Manhattan, the average listing discount in the first quarter was 2.8%, up from 1.3% a year ago.This stat tells buyers that they don’t always have to offer list price anymore — and it tells sellers where buyers expect to end up.Of course, the apartment you’re looking at may not be average: if you’re in a hurry, you’re more negotiable. For sellers, this means be patient in order to get your top dollar.
For buyers, it means try to find sellers in a hurry.
Thanks to our friends at Miller Samuel for the stats.