Published on : Wed, 05 Oct 2005 23:04GMT
by : Andy Clarke

NEW YORK - The average price of an apartment in Manhattan fell to $1,149,813 in the third quarter of the current year according to the Prudential Douglas Elliman Manhattan Market Overview report.
This is a 12.7 percent fall in apartment prices as compared to figures from the second quarter.

However, even at this rate the prevailing price was at least 10.1 percent more than that at the same time last year. The prices per foot of area increased by 1.4 percent to $984 in the third quarter up from $970 in the second quarter. This is a 22.5 percent jump from the $803 at the same time last year. But the fall in prices has made brokers question if the Manhattan property market has topped and what is being witnessed is a correction. "We're not seeing prices fall," said Jonathan Miller, the author of the Prudential Douglas Elliman Manhattan Market Overview report.

"What we're seeing is more entry-level sales and a more moderate appreciation of property than we've seen in previous quarters."

Analysts agreed with his assessment saying that the sales in the second quarter were driven by the demand for studio and one-bedroom flats. The demand for luxury apartments dropped, thus bringing down the average prices, analysts said. One-bedroom flats sold 9.8 percent higher at an average of $687,744, while studio apartments increased by 13 percent in the quarter to $428,831.

"New Yorkers have lost some of their enthusiasm for real estate in the near term because of energy prices and concerns about inflation, but it's just a pause," Miller said pointing out that there was hardly any cause for panic. The overall sales in Manhattan dropped by 9 percent in the quarter. This was 18 percent less than that of the previous year. It took longer to sell flats as well with the waiting time rising to 133 days as against the 102 days in the previous quarter.

Jacky Teplitzky, executive vice president of Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate commented, "My sense is the buyers are saying: 'No more. We want a price correction."