Kieth Truong Manhattan Real Estate Agent

If you’ve been waiting for the Manhattan real estate market to clearly declare itself a buyer’s market or a seller’s market, you may be waiting a while.

What we’re seeing right now is more nuanced and, in my opinion, much more interesting.

Manhattan entered the second half of 2026 with strong underlying demand, constrained inventory, and buyers who are willing to act quickly when the right property comes to market. But that does not mean every property is selling. The gap between homes that are positioned correctly and those that are not is becoming increasingly obvious.

Recent market data shows just how resilient Manhattan has been. The median sales price reached approximately $1.25 million in the second quarter, while listing inventory declined roughly 15% compared with last year. Meanwhile, June contract activity remained strong, with NYC homes entering contract up 18.6% from a year earlier, according to StreetEasy.

The upper end of the market has been particularly active. StreetEasy reported that contracts in the top third of the NYC market increased 29.2% compared with last year in June, while luxury townhouse activity reached its highest level since 2010.

So what does this mean if you’re thinking about selling?

It means there are buyers, but sellers cannot confuse buyer demand with unlimited tolerance on price.

Today’s buyer has access to more information than ever. They know how long a property has been sitting. They know its pricing history. They can compare it instantly with competing inventory, and they are making judgments about value before they ever schedule an appointment.

That is why I believe the first few weeks of a listing have become even more important.

A property that enters the market with the right price, photography, presentation, and marketing strategy can immediately capture attention. A property that comes out overpriced or poorly presented can lose momentum surprisingly quickly. Once that happens, reducing the price later does not always recreate the excitement that existed on day one.

This is especially important as we move through August and toward the fall market.

Summer traditionally creates a natural pause in Manhattan real estate. Buyers travel. Sellers travel. Inventory can become uneven. But serious buyers do not disappear, and well positioned properties continue to transact.

For sellers considering a September or fall launch, August should therefore be viewed as a preparation month, not a waiting month.

This is when I would be evaluating the competition, studying recent contracts and closings, determining the property’s strongest positioning, preparing photography and marketing, and developing a pricing strategy before the fall inventory arrives.

For buyers, the current environment requires a different kind of discipline.

I would not assume that simply because a property has been on the market for several weeks, the seller is ready to accept a substantial discount. With Manhattan inventory still relatively constrained, desirable apartments that are priced correctly can attract competition.

At the same time, buyers should not be afraid to negotiate when the data supports it.

Every apartment has its own market.

Two properties in the same building can achieve very different results depending on condition, floor, light, views, layout, monthly carrying costs, and perhaps most importantly, how they are positioned.

That is why I have never believed that successful real estate strategy is simply about putting a property online and waiting.

My background as a contract negotiator taught me to look at transactions differently. You identify leverage, understand the other side, anticipate objections, and create a strategy before negotiations begin.

Real estate is no different.

As we approach the fall market, I expect the best opportunities to belong to sellers who prepare early and buyers who understand value well enough to recognize it when they see it.

Thinking about selling, buying, or repositioning a property that didn’t sell the first time? I’m always happy to have a conversation about what the numbers actually mean for your specific apartment.

Kieth Truong
Ann Marie Folan Team
Douglas Elliman Real Estate

Fall is Manhattan's second busiest sales season—and the window between Labor Day and Thanksgiving moves fast. Sellers who start preparing in June and July consistently achieve better outcomes than those who rush in September.

The work that matters most happens before a listing goes live. That means resolving deferred maintenance, making staging decisions, commissioning professional photography, and preparing floor plans. In a competitive market, buyers form an impression in seconds—listings that look well cared for command more attention and better offers.

Pricing strategy matters just as much, and it needs to be set before Labor Day. Fall buyers in Manhattan are serious—many are working against year-end lease expirations or tax deadlines—and they compare your apartment to everything else active at that moment. Entering at the right number from day one prevents the stigma of price reductions and extended days on market.

The sellers who do best in fall are the ones who use June and July as the real preparation window. By the time September listings go live, the work is already done. If you're considering a fall sale, the right time to have that conversation is now.

Before real estate, Kieth Truong spent years negotiating high-stakes defense industry contracts—the kind where the language in a clause and the sequence of concessions determine outcomes worth millions. That background shapes how he approaches every transaction: methodically, without the emotion that often costs sellers money.

Ann Marie Folan's foundation is equally rigorous. She holds a J.D. from St. John's University School of Law and practiced at Stroock, Stroock & Lavan LLP, one of New York's prominent commercial real estate firms. She reads contracts the way lawyers do—looking for what's missing, what's ambiguous, and what the other side is counting on the seller not to notice.

Together, they work at the intersection of market knowledge and legal fluency. In co-op and condo transactions, that matters more than in most markets. Board approval processes, proprietary lease terms, flip tax calculations, and contract contingencies all have implications that agents without legal training routinely miss.

Their clients get representation built on actual negotiating experience—not just sales volume. That distinction becomes most visible when a deal gets complicated, which is precisely when most sellers discover what their agent is truly capable of.

Manhattan's residential market opened 2026 with its most active first quarter since 2021. Signed contracts were up 18% year-over-year, median days on market fell to 62, and the $2M–$4M condo segment saw its lowest inventory levels since the post-pandemic surge.

The driver wasn't a single factor. Rate stabilization brought back buyers who had been waiting on the sidelines since 2023. At the same time, inventory remained constrained—particularly in well-priced co-ops below $2M and full-service condos between $2M and $4M. When supply is tight and demand returns, the market clears faster and at higher prices.

Geographically, the strongest activity was concentrated on the Upper East Side and in Midtown South. The Upper East Side benefited from value relative to downtown and improved buyer perception following infrastructure improvements along the Second Avenue corridor. Midtown South—particularly Turtle Bay and Murray Hill—continued attracting buyers who prioritize space and value over prestige addresses.

For sellers, Q1 data suggests the market is absorbing well-priced inventory quickly. Properties that entered correctly—staged, photographed, and priced at current comps rather than aspirational numbers—saw significantly shorter time to contract than the prior year. The sellers who struggled were those who tested above market and then had to reduce. Q2 and Q3 will determine whether this momentum holds, but the buyer pool entering spring 2026 is deeper and more qualified than it has been in several years.

233 East 69th Street, Apt 3L had been on the market for over thirteen months with a prior broker—no offers, no traction, and a seller understandably frustrated with the process.

The problem wasn't the apartment. It was the positioning. The prior listing used dated photography, a price out of step with recent comparable sales, and a description that emphasized features buyers at that price point weren't prioritizing. The apartment had effectively become invisible—buyers who saw it once didn't come back, and new buyers filtered it out based on days-on-market stigma.

The repositioning started with a complete reset. New photography was commissioned with a focus on light and proportions. The price was adjusted to reflect where the market had actually moved over thirteen months. The listing description was rewritten to lead with what buyers at this price point genuinely cared about: quiet, well-maintained, correctly priced for the floor plan.

The apartment went under contract in 50 days. The price achieved was within 3% of the repositioned ask—a result that reflected market reality rather than wishful pricing. The seller got a closed transaction after more than a year of carrying costs. The case illustrates something the data consistently confirms: extended time on market is almost never about the apartment. It's almost always about how it's being presented.

330 East 51st Street is a four-story Turtle Bay townhouse—a property type that attracts a specific and serious buyer: someone who wants the privacy and scale of a townhouse without leaving Manhattan, in a neighborhood that's walkable, quiet, and well-connected.

The property was listed September 11, 2025. The listing strategy focused on the building's structural integrity, the character of the block, and the flexibility of the floor plan for a buyer looking to either occupy or renovate. Turtle Bay has a distinct identity that appeals to buyers who've looked downtown and decided the scale and noise aren't right for them.

A buyer executed a contract within the first active weeks of the listing. What followed was a 103-day process from signed contract to closing—a timeline that reflects the inherent complexity of Manhattan townhouse transactions. Title searches, transfer tax coordination, attorney negotiations over representations and warranties, and the scheduling dependencies of a property this size all require methodical management to stay on track.

The deal closed March 2, 2026. For the seller, it was a completed transaction on a property type where extended marketing periods are common. Townhouse transactions in Manhattan demand a higher level of process management than co-op or condo deals. This one closed on schedule because the details were tracked from day one.