Third Quarter 2009 Manhattan Market Report

Third Quarter 2009 Manhattan Market Report is in

While the residential market is not back to where it was before the collapse of Lehman Brothers, things have improved over the past several months.

With a slow start, the spring buyimg market picked up. National housing indicators are turning around and job losses are slowing. Many feel that the worst is now behind us.

The average price for Manhattan apartments was $1,274,563 during the third quarter of 2009, up slightly from the prior quarter. While the average price is still 13% lower than a year ago, this is an improvement from the second quarter's 24% annual decline. Also showing improvement was the number of sales reported. After falling 53% year-over-year in the second quarter, closings in the third quarter were down 25% from the same period in 2008.

All sizes of cooperative apartments posted lower average prices than a year ago, led by a 41% decline in three-bedroom and larger units. Note: There were 4 co-op sales over $30 million a year ago, 2 of which approached $50 million. There were no similar sales this past quarter, thus this figure fell sharply. This also brought the average price lower for all co-ops, which at $934,400, represents a 22% decline from the third quarter of 2008.

While the average price fell for all sizes of condominiums over the past year, the overall condo average price was actually up slightly from 2008's third quarter. The reason for this was that the average condo sold during the third quarter was 9% larger than a year ago. If the average size of condos sold goes up, the overall average price can rise-even in a declining market. Just under half of all condo sales were in new developments in the third quarter, down from 70% a year ago.