March 3 (Bloomberg) -- Manhattan apartment sellers cut prices by the most in five years last year and unsold inventory rose to the highest since 1999 as the economy retreated.
The average listing discount climbed to 4.1 percent, the highest since 2003, as buyers negotiated for reductions off the asking price. The number of condominiums and co-ops for sale jumped 41 percent last year to 9,081 even as the median price reached a record $995,000, appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and broker Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate said today.
New York City is bracing for a drop in property values after three of the five largest investment banks collapsed. In the Hamptons, on the eastern end of Long Island, prices are already falling. Banks and securities firms have cut more than 180,000 jobs in the past year, according to Bloomberg data, as the recession entered its second year and the global credit crisis forced writedowns and mortgage-related losses of $1.18 trillion.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
New York City 2010
