Interesting news on the high end market in Manhattan

from J.W. Elphinstone of the Associated Press on July 2nd:

Manhattan Condo and Co-op Prices Fall

Condo and co-op prices in pricey Manhattan fell for the second quarter in a row, according to data from Prudential Douglas Elliman, one of the city’s largest real estate firms.

Expensive properties were the hardest hit with the median sales price of a luxury apartment – those in the top 10 percent of sale prices – falling 17 percent to 26 percent with the number of sales reduced by half.

About 61 percent of all sales were below $1 million, down from 49 percent a year ago, according to Miller Samuel Inc., which analyzed the number for Prudential.

Meanwhile, the average time it took to sell a property rose 48 percent from a year ago to 129 days with the number of price cuts doubling, according to a report from StreetEasy.com.

"It's the beginning of the new reality that 2007 and 2008 were not the norm, but the peak," says Pamela Liebman, CEO of The Corcoran Group.