Manhattan Housing Market Is Depressed!

Photograph of the Plaza Hotel, now converted to luxury condos, by wallyg on Flickr

The NY Times looks at how crumbling NYC economy has caused the real estate market to fall: "Manhattan housing prices were driven higher by record earnings and bonuses on Wall Street, and they fell hard when the music stopped last fall." There are also tales of how high-end apartments are hurting in the market; for instance, a 17-room West End co-op was originally on the market for $13.5 million, but now it's being sold for $7.5 million (and the seller is agreeing to split it back into two apartments). Prudential Douglas Elliman broker Dolly Lenz explains, "For the last three years, it was the bigger the better. Now the key words are smaller, livable and affordable. Before no one asked what the maintenance was. Now everyone wants to know."

Over at the Post, the big news is that the $1,000/square foot marker for Manhattan home prices may be over. Real estate firms offer observations such as "We're even doing deals in prime locations like SoHo at below $1,000 a foot" and "I've seen less [than $1,000 a foot] on the Upper West Side. I started seeing that about two months ago... I'm seeing it on the Upper East Side, as well ... I'm seeing condos from [East] 76th Street to the 80s anywhere from $650 a foot up to $1,000." A branding agency executive explains, "It's almost like when you're going into a grocery store, and it's 99 cents as opposed to a dollar... You feel like you're getting a deal."