Condo Glut in Westchester

There seemed to be a lot of stories about condo gluts over the weekend. This NY Times article does a good job describing the market in White Plains, NY. This leads to another question. Why would anyone want to live in a condo tower in the suburbs? To me, if I am going to live in the ‘burbs, then I am doing so because I don’t want to be on top of my neighbors, with the trade off being a crappy commute to NYC. Conversely, I’ll live in a tower style condo in NYC for an easy commute, with the trade off of having very close neighbors. Living in a condo tower in the burbs is the worst of both living in the city and the suburbs in that the commute to the city sucks and the neighbors are too close.


“Mrs. Gramolini's condominium is in contract. She would not reveal the sale price, although she indicated it was below her asking price. "Because I got in at the ground floor, I'm not taking a loss," she said. "It just didn't work out as well as I had hoped."

Mr. Durante put two condos on the market: a penthouse he occupied in another section of downtown White Plains and his Trump condo. The occupied unit sold quickly. He said he would move into his unsold Trump condo.

"Not just in White Plains, but all over Westchester, the condo market has softened," Mr. Durante said. "It's especially true in White Plains," because another high-end residential project is nearing completion, "and people have a lot to chose from," he added.

Of 125 apartments on which buyers have already closed at Trump Tower at City Center, about one-third returned to the market shortly after their closings. Some people describe the surfeit of condos on the market in White Plains as a glut.”

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