Average sales prices for all homes, including cooperatives, condominiums and one- to three-family homes, increased 15% citywide to $732,000 from 2006 to 2007, according to REBNY's ResidentialNYC.com report. The average sales price for all New York City apartments rose 11% in 12 months, a figure exceeded by Manhattan with an average sales price of $1.217 million, up 12% from a year earlier.

Data from Brown Harris Stevens indicated an even sharper year-over-year spike in Manhattan apartment prices, with the Q4 '07 average of $1.43 million up 34% from Q4 '06, including a 51% jump in condominium prices there. This rise in prices was offset somewhat by slightly fewer sales during Q4 '07 compared to a year earlier, according to Brown Harris Stevens.

A big factor in the price surge was a substantial gain in the sales of apartments priced over $10 million during the year. "The factors that make our market healthy continue to provide stability, and we are seeing this positive effect most at the high end," says Hall F. Wilkie, president of Brown Harris Stevens.