April 2 (Bloomberg) -- Manhattan apartment sales almost doubled in the first quarter as bargain-hunting buyers scooped up co-ops and condos in a market where prices have fallen an average 29 percent since their peak. The number of sales soared to 2,348 from 1,195 a year earlier, New York appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and broker Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate said today. The median price for a co-op or condo slid 11 percent to $868,000. Values fell across apartments of all sizes as New York City recorded 10.2 percent unemployment in February. Fallout from the recession and credit crisis that cost more than 184,000 finance jobs in the Americas is still hurting New York. The city lost 5.4 percent of its finance industry jobs in the 12 months ending in February, the state Labor Department said March 25. http://www.businessweek.com/news/20...t-sales-double-as-buyers-target-bargains.html
Pop-media marketing BS, a bunch of meaningless words to justify a disingenuous headline. Selective reference point cited without context - why compare sales to a year ago? Why not last month? Why not 3 years ago? If sales are "soaring" and "doubling," why are those idiots selling their condos for 11% less (and 11% less than what, exactly)? Who compiled these values, anyway, and how? Insightful.
Yeah, nice comparison point. The world economy was essentially stopped during the first quarter of last year.
The beginning of each decade also marks a "blood letting" in the industry. The "worst" should occur by 2013. We'll see. :eek: