‘Whisper listings’ complicate red hot middle-class housing market
Thanks to a booming housing market, off-market properties, a k a whisper listings, are throwing already discouraged home hunters a curve ball.
Once a marketing tool reserved for press-shy billionaires and celebrities, as well as developers of country club-like super towers such as the Robert A.M. Stern-designed 220 Central Park West — which saw record sales, including a deal for $238 million, despite never publicly listing a unit — the trade in off-market homes is now affecting every sector of the housing market, including middle-class city apartments and suburban abodes, brokers told The Post.
In a slow market, sellers and agents need to get the maximum number of eyes on a property to achieve a top price. That also benefits homebuyers who want to peruse listings and price compare.
But in a bullish housing market, where listings are scarce — inventory plummeted more than 38% year-over-year in the New York City region, according to a recent report by Norada Real Estate Investments — sellers no longer need to aggressively market.
