The Fed raised rates last week for the first time since 2023. The top of the Manhattan market did not notice.

On September 16 the Federal Reserve lifted its benchmark rate by a quarter point, a unanimous vote, and penciled in one more increase before year end. The week that followed was the busiest of the month for Manhattan’s high end: Olshan Realty counted 19 contracts signed at $4 million and above, up from 16 the week before, $197 million in all, with a median asking price of $7.8 million. That is with the pied-à-terre tax in force since July 1.

The reason is simple. Above $3 million, close to 90 percent of Manhattan buyers pay cash, and 64 percent of all co-op and condo purchases last year were cash, per Douglas Elliman’s report. Those buyers are pricing the apartment, not the loan. Where rates bite is the financed middle of the market, and even there the effect is not what you might expect. Owners sitting on cheap mortgages are staying put, Manhattan listing inventory was down 11 percent year over year in August, and 22 percent of homes sold across the city went for more than the asking price. The squeeze is fewer sellers, not fewer buyers.

If you are buying with a mortgage, my advice has not changed. The rate is the one part of the deal you can revisit later; the apartment, the block and the price you paid are permanent. Underwrite the monthly at today’s cost of money, and if the numbers work on a home you would keep for a decade, do not let a quarter point talk you out of it.

This week’s ten run from an $880,000 two bedroom in Clinton Hill with no board approval to a $25,000,000 penthouse on Crosby Street with two deeded parking spaces. Seven are in Manhattan and three in Brooklyn. If one pulls at you, reply and we’ll set up a private tour.