Three years ago, several weeks into the start of 2013, I reflected on the Wall Street adage “As January goes, so goes the year.” At the time, impressive financial gains were scored with both the S&P 500 and the Dow which were up in the month of January 2013 by 5.05% and 5.77% respectively, signaling the best start to the year since 1987. In residential Manhattan real estate, January 2013 witnessed a jump of nearly 28% in signed contracts over January 2012 (2,888 vs. 2,265). Sofia Song, at the time StreetEasy’s Head of Research, called it “The Year of the Frustrated Buyer.” I termed it “The Year of the Smart Seller.”
