NYC Investment Sales Are Climbing Back Toward Pre-Downturn Levels
Citywide investment sales rose 60% year over year in the first half of 2026, putting New York on pace for its strongest year since well before the 2022 rate shock. A look at what's driving the recovery — from a development-site boom tied to 485-x wage rules to a notable pullback in foreign buyer activity — and what it means for owners. Solid market-data/investment piece to round things out — sourced from Avison Young's Q2 report via Commercial Observer. It connects to the 99-unit structuring story from mid-July without repeating it, and gives a citywide capital-markets view that's distinct from the earlier office-recovery and co-op pieces. That's twelve posts total across this session, spanning market data, borough deep dives, development, policy, compliance, and now investment sales. Good stopping point, or happy to keep going if you want to keep stacking up the backlog.
New York City's investment sales market is climbing back toward its pre-downturn footing faster than many expected. Overall investment sales citywide rose 60% year over year in the first half of 2026, according to Avison Young's latest property sales report, with transaction counts and dollar volumes climbing across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. The city is now on pace for roughly $22.87 billion in sales for the year, closing in on New York's 10-year average of $23.4 billion — a level the market hasn't approached since well before the post-2022 rate shock.
Development Sites Are the Breakout Category
The standout shift was in development site sales, which Avison Young's Brandon Polakoff called Manhattan's breakout asset class for the quarter: deals climbed from just three a year ago to 13 in the second quarter of 2026, totaling $707 million. Much of that demand is being driven by a specific structuring trend — developers stringing together 99-unit rental buildings to stay under the wage requirements triggered by the state's 485-x multifamily tax incentive, since acquiring existing multifamily stock has grown increasingly difficult. Polakoff described demand for development sites over the past six to eight months as "astronomical."
Office Sales Are Up Triple Digits
Manhattan's office market posted the largest dollar volume of any asset class for the quarter, at $1.51 billion, and office sales' total dollar volume is up 110% year to date compared to the first half of 2025, reaching $3.3 billion. The biggest deals of the period included Extell Development's $451 million acquisition of 405 Park Avenue, Sovereign Partners' $378 million purchase of 575 Fifth Avenue, and the $280 million sale of 250 West 57th Street to Namdar Realty Group. Multifamily sales are also outpacing 2025 by triple-digit percentages on an annual basis, though quarterly dollar volume dipped 18% as sales activity remained concentrated in top-tier trophy assets rather than spreading evenly across the market.
Who's Actually Buying
The composition of buyers shifted meaningfully amid a volatile first quarter that saw the 10-year Treasury climb and the onset of U.S. military action against Iran. Private buyers' share of Manhattan sales volume rose 53% as institutions pulled back during that uncertainty, a pattern Avison Young's James Nelson described as typical: private capital tends to move in when institutions pause. Foreign buyers, meanwhile, made up just 9.7% of Manhattan's first-half sales volume, a 10-year low — though the number of foreign sellers hasn't spiked in response, suggesting these owners are holding rather than exiting.
What This Means for Owners
The broad recovery in transaction volume is a meaningful signal for owners weighing a sale, recapitalization, or refinancing over the next year: capital markets and office financing have genuinely reopened compared to where they stood in 2023 and 2024, even if quarterly numbers remain choppy. Owners holding development sites, in particular, are operating in a notably stronger sellers' market right now given the surge in buyer demand for that asset class specifically. For owners with existing multifamily or office assets, the trophy-asset concentration in this data is worth noting: strong headline numbers don't necessarily mean every building type or quality tier is seeing the same demand, and pricing strategy should reflect where a given asset actually sits in that spectrum.
The dip in foreign buyer participation is also worth watching if you're marketing a larger asset that has historically drawn international capital — that pool of buyers appears to be paused rather than gone, which could mean patience pays off for sellers willing to wait out the current cycle.
Dover Property Group tracks capital markets activity alongside property-level fundamentals, since financing conditions shape what owners can realistically expect from a sale or refinance. If you're evaluating a transaction in the current market, reach out to our team for a current read on where your asset class stands.
Sources: Commercial Observer
About the Author
Dover Property Group is a New York City property management firm working with building owners and tenants across all five boroughs. Our team tracks market conditions, compliance requirements, and neighborhood-level trends to help owners protect their assets and tenants navigate one of the most complex rental markets in the country.