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Worst Sales Decline In 18 Years For Manhattan Condos

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Condos in Manhattan have generally known only one direction for their prices in the last 18 years and that has been up. But all that has changed lately, as the mortgage crisis hits new lows. Prices for condos in Manhattan have suffered their worst decline in 18 years.

Sales fell 34 percent from a year earlier and inventory rose 4.6 percent to 6,194 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 Manhattan co-operative apartment or condominium increased 13.2 percent to a record $945,000.

“If it continues along this pattern, we’re in a period of transition to a weaker market,” Miller Samuel President Jonathan Miller said in an interview. “You typically see a slowdown in sales activity precede a slowdown in pricing.”

The big problem, of course, has been fallout from woes in the financial industry, which have been facing very unprofitable times. Unless profits improve for Wall Street firms, the local real estate market could face further lows.