Manhattan Home Sales Slow, Prices Rise

NEW YORK — Turmoil on Wall Street and a sluggish economy finally slowed home sales in the Big Apple in the first quarter, but a slew of big-ticket apartment sales bolstered prices, according to two reports released Wednesday.

Sales of Manhattan condos and cooperatives dropped more than 34 percent in the first quarter compared with the first quarter of last year, Prudential Douglas Elliman said, but the median sales price gained over 13 percent to $945,276. At that price, a buyer could scoop up four U.S. median-priced homes.

Nationwide, home prices dropped 11 percent in January from a year earlier, according to the most recent data from the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index. That marked the biggest decline in the index's two-decade history.

Much of Manhattan's price boost came from high-end sales, especially at the ultra-luxury apartments The Plaza and 15 Central Park West. The median price of a luxury apartment soared almost 46 percent to nearly $5 million.

"We're seeing more expensive properties transfer hands. That's shifting the mix of sales and we feel it skewed the price changes," said Jonathan Miller, president and chief executive of Miller Samuel Inc., which analyzed the numbers for Prudential.

Most Manhattan cooperatives, which represent roughly half of all apartment sales, have strict guidelines for financing. Many require a down payment between 20 percent and 25 percent, but more upscale buildings require the buyer to pay all cash _ and those buyers have been scarcely affected by tighter lending standards.

Miller said the slowdown in sales volume reflects a loss of confidence in the housing market and the broader economy, especially following the near-collapse of Bear Stearns & Co. last month. While the fate of the 14,000 Bear Stearns employees remains uncertain now, a large number of layoffs in New York could trigger a downturn in the typically resilient Manhattan market.

Already the number of properties on the market has crept up, gaining nearly 5 percent since the same period last year as buyers sit on the sidelines, waiting out the chaos.

However, Greg Heym, chief economist at Brown Harris Stevens, said Manhattan probably won't suffer the devastation occurring in housing markets like California, Florida, Arizona and Nevada.

Brown Harris Stevens, in a separate report Wednesday, said sales volume in Manhattan barely stalled the first three months of the year, dipping 1 percent from the January-March period last year. But similar to Prudential, the report showed a jump in median price due to a fourfold increase in the number of sales over $10 million.

"Prices weren't driven up by speculators or investors and there wasn't as much risky borrowing to drive up prices. So many things playing out in other markets aren't in play here," Heym said.

Prudential's report is based on 2,282 home sales, while Brown Harris Stevens' report tracked 2,857 sales.

Comments

[FreedomCorpse]

the prices should drop like the world trade centers did. Silverstein should mop up real estate with his billions in fraudulent insurance gains.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

HuffPoo headine writers need to take meds. Again.

There is nothing in the article about "boom years." Nothing. Zip. Nada.

Try this, from the a-r-t-i-c-l-e:
"a large number of layoffs in New York could trigger a downturn in the typically resilient Manhattan market.

Already the number of properties on the market has crept up, gaining nearly 5 percent since the same period last year as buyers sit on the sidelines, waiting out the chaos."

-- New Yahker who can READ

[Cynth]

The "boom years" article is here: http://www.observer.com/2008/super-rich-boom-years-have-just-begun

(The teaser headlines were 2 separate links pointing to different articles.)

[January]

Of course it's the poor getting poorer. That's the American way--at least for the last 30 years. And the reminder downthread about the 59 million American dummies: I still see the Bush/Cheney stickers on cars, even in my solid blue state. Winners never admit a mistake. Never have to say their sorry. Just like the robots they are.

[WIpatriot]

I hear Canadians are buying homes in Nevada and Arizona.

[studlyguy]

Ahhhhhh! i feel so bad New York is finally feeling the housing bust,NOT!Wall Street GREEDY days it's like almost a century ago 1920's the roaring twenties then we had the depression years of the 1930's, and now history just keeps repeating itself 90's great and now depression years in the first decade of the 21st century,as for the second story on this thread Europeans euro against the dollar no shocker for the few europeans who still like Americans and America after we elected Bush as that headline so long ago in one of the British paper Daily Mirror saying how can 59 million Americans be so dumb to vote Bush back into office,and now I ask those 59 million Americans how do you feel now ,as we head into economic abyss because of criminal Bush Regime and their corporate cronies partners in crime, otherwise known as ROBBER BARONS ,stealing their way to billionaire status ,at the expense of the majority of us Americans as we now see the result on the American economy

[javaman]

Looks as if the brits will be buying back the US one house at a time. Colonization and occupation is soooooo old school.

[gcallaghan]

Yes, the euro does go far these days.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

Bingo.

And with Wall Street tanking, Bleecker Street looks like a steal.

[BigBagel]

East 6th Street too.