As many as 90% of homes for sale in SoHo, New York, are having to be reduced in price before they can sell, according to local reports. SoHo - the neighbourhood south of Houston Street in Lower Manhattan - is still legally designated as a zone for artists-in-residence and many non-creative homebuyers must sign a waiver to say they understand they might be evicted if the City of New York decides to enforce the zoning (it has yet to be so discourteous).

However, not many artists sell enough paintings to move into the area nowadays and earlier this year, a four-bedroom apartment at 150 Wooster Street sold with Christie’s International Real Estate for $32m.

The average price per square foot in SoHo this year is $2,374 sq ft, which is more than double the Manhattan average of $1,116 sq ft, and 34% higher than it was in 2014, according to Christie’s data.

However, more recently sales have been down. Apart from the sky-high prices, a major factor is reported to be Manhattan’s oversupply of expensive homes.

According to Christie’s, the normal asking price reduction is now 10%, which is usually followed by a further 5% reduction to agree a purchase price.