apartment prices are once again reaching record levels, relegating the brief housing market slowdown of mid-2006 to a mere blip on the area's price ascent.
Fueled in part by record bonuses, the first three months of 2007 saw a strong increase in the number of co-op and condo sales when compared with the same period in 2006, reports to be released today by three major brokerage firms indicate. The median sales price of a Manhattan apartment reportedly ranged between $770,000 and $840,000, with two of the firms noting a record high for the figure.
The results suggest that after a period of declining prices last year, which analysts attribute to buyer trepidation amid a softening of the national housing market, the Manhattan market is back on its upward track, defying the stagnation seen in the rest of the country.
"Activity is up, so that's obviously something that bucks the national trend," an economist at , Gregory Heym, said. "Our economy remains very strong, and we're seeing more stable conditions in our market than we have in the past couple years.
