Residential: Prices Just Keep Climbing

In contrast to the housing woes seen in other U.S. markets, New York City’s residential prices keep going up. So say two quarterly reports on the city’s apartment market.

The average price paid for Manhattan apartments hit a new high of $1,690,995 in Q1 2008, up 47% compared to the same period one year ago, according to Brown Harris Stevens. The rise was due in large measure to the highest end of the market, including 15 Central Park West and the Plaza, which saw a 318% rise in the number of closings over $10 million, including four recorded closings over $30 million. The median figure also set a new record of $855,000 and was up 13% from Q1 2007.

However, those numbers can be read too simply, in the view of Jim Gricar, EVP and director of sales at Brown Harris Stevens. “In the report, we provide two numbers: with 15 Central Park West and the Plaza factored in and factored out. In fact, neither number, if you think about it, is entirely accurate because if you leave them in, it skews the average. Yet if you take them out, you’re pretending that they didn’t happen, but they clearly did happen and therefore are a reflection of the market. Instead of blending it or coming up with some methodology that we think is reflective of what actually happened, we let the reader decide.”