Manhattan Apartment Sales, Prices Drop During 2nd Quarter

New second quarter 2009 reports from the real estate firms indicate that the prices of Manhattan apartments has fallen about 25% since the same period last year. Sales were down, as much as 50% in one report and by 61% for new condos in another. Bloomberg News calls it the "Lehman effect" as "the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Bear Stearns Cos. caught up to property owners in the nation’s most expensive urban market." The NY Times reports, "The strongest activity was reported in smaller, less expensive apartments, often bought by renters buying their first homes" (who "benefited by low mortgage rates...and a federal tax credit available to many first-time home buyers") and that "sales of trophy apartments had shriveled during the downturn." The head of Corcoran, Pamela Liebman, says sellers shouldn't wait to sell, "Time does not necessarily equate to money here for the seller," while appraiser Jonathan Miller believes, "We will probably get a little worse before it is going to get better, because unemployment is likely to continue to rise after the recession ends this year."