Last week, broker/blogger Property Grunt noted a dearth of folks at his Sunday open houses, prompting speculation that the market has indeed topped out. Yesterday, he saw more of the same, confirming "week two of the open house drought." The phenomenon, however, does not appear to be consistent across neighborhoods; on the Upper West Side, one commenter notes "still a fairly steady trickle (maybe 10-15 in 2 hours) but not the craziness of the spring," while in Brooklyn, another commenter says mania is alive and well:
Went to open houses in Brooklyn yesterday and last Sunday. Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Park Slope. We looked at 2-bedroom apartments that were in the $650-800k range. Open houses went from packed to crazy stupid crowded. We were usually the 30th person/couple to sign in. One place had maybe 100 people there during the 20 minutes we spent looking.The lesson, as always: avoid Brooklyn like the plague, people.
· Status Report from the Open House Front [Property Grunt]