Average Manhattan Apartment Now Over $1.3 million

Although averages are notoriously unreliable as market indicators (a relatively small number of high-price deals can easily skew them), the median sales price in Manhattan also hit a record: it rose 1.7% to a record $895,000, according to the Prudential Douglas Elliman Manhattan market overview report released Tuesday.

As for trends, co-ops seemed to be heading down which was more than compensated for by the upward movement of condo prices (according to figures from Brown Harris Stevens quoted by the NY Times, buyers paid an average of $1.49 million for a condominium, compared with $1.13 million for a co-op)

Also, while Manhattan growth was robust, a report from the Corcoran Group said that median prices for condos and co-ops in Brooklyn fell 1%. (The NY Times quotes the figure as 4%).

Clearly, part of the trend is that foreign buyers are increasingly active on the New York Market. The NY Times piece quotes Hall Willkie, the president of Brown Harris Stevens as saying that foreign buyers, especially Russians, have been snapping up sprawling multimillion-dollar condominiums.

Sources and Links

1. Co-ops Slip, but Condos Lead Rise in Manhattan Apartment Prices (NY Times)
2. NYC a Bright Spot in Dismal U.S. Real Estate Market (TheStreet.com)
3. Weak Dollar Fuels City Real Estate (NY Sun)