Luxury Real Estate in Manhattan – Price per Square foot still falling but sales are up

The latest Manhattan luxury market report from Prudential Douglas Elliman contains mixed news. Unsurprising as the ongoing credit crunch means those sellers who can afford to wait are simply removing their listings and those buyers who can also wait it out for the opposite are sitting on the sidelines as well. Having said that, sales in the luxury sector were up in the third quarter compared to the previous quarter, although still down considerably from the year before.

The median sales price of a luxury apartment in Manhattan was down 2.9% from last year at $3,905,000 but up 6.7% from the previous quarter and this is the second quarter in a row where median rices have remained below $4 million. the average sales price is down 15.7 compared t last year at $4,881,561, but 2.6% up from the previous quarter. Price per square foot was $1,655 – down 20.2% from last year and down 104% in the previous quarter. Listing time was up 52.1% from the previous year at 181 days – almost unchanged from the previous quarter.

The loft apartment market was in a sorrier state and saw substantial decreases in price from both last year and the last quarter. Median sales prices were down 21.9% to $1,500,000 from last year and 19.7% down from the previous quarter. The number of sales was up considerably from the previous quarter though.

The full report is available here – PDE Manhattan Q3 2009 report (PDF download)