New York City's luxury real estate market is slowing down

It took two months longer on average to sell a New York Cityluxury apartment in 2016 compared to 2015.That's according to the real estate agency Olshan Realty, which published its year-end report on the New York residential market on Wednesday.Itbacked up other reports released earlier in 2016 that showed the luxury market in New York's most expensiveborough had a tough year. Unlike other price segments of the housing market, there's an excess of luxury apartments, giving buyers power to negotiate asking prices lower."New York City's rental market has been mostly steady, except at the high end, where the inventory has risen and rents have drifted down," the Federal Reserve said in a recentBeige Bookbased on comments from its contacts.According to Donna Olshan, the company's president, contract signings fell 18% in 2016 through Christmas dayto a valueof $8.94 trillion, "below the golden years of new condo development: 2013-2015.""The decline reflects classic price resistance," she added in the report.Olshan said luxury co-ops, which tend tohave tougher criteria for ownership and resale, had the steepest drop in contract signings. Contracts fell 25% year-on-year for apartments worth $4 million and higher. This showed "a continuing market shift in the luxury market to new condos that offer freedom of ownership, new infrastructure, robust amenities, and some hip architectureparticularly seen Downtown," Olshan said.The top contract signed in the week ending December 23 was in 432 Park Avenue, the world's tallest residential building. It was a three-bedroom apartment with an asking price of $17.625 million, Olshan said. Bloomberg earlier reported that the buildingsold units this year for an average of 10% less than the original listing price, and may have sponsored some buyers' taxes.SEE ALSO:The world's tallest luxury building can't get its superrich buyers to pay full priceJoin the conversation about this storyNOW WATCH: Watch Yellen explain why the Federal Reserve decides to raise rates
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