New York City has held pretty well in this housing downturn to date. However, with money center banks reeling from the credit crisis, this has changed. Bloomberg reports sales in Manhattan falling 22% in the second quarter of 2008. Sales decreases generally preceed price declines as home sellers often take properties off the market initially rather than take a reduced offer. Ultimately, prices are going to have to come down as inventory has piled up.
Manhattan apartment sales dropped the most for a second quarter since 1998 and unsold inventory approached an eight-year record, two signs prices may be poised to drop in the nation’s most expensive urban housing market.
The number of sales fell 22 percent from a year earlier and inventory rose 31 percent to 6,869 units, New York-based real estate appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and broker Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate said in a report today. The median price of a co-operative or condominium apartment increased almost 15 percent to a record $1.03 million, lifted by new developments.