The 1Q 2010 Manhattan Market Overview , part of a report series that we have authored for Prudential Douglas Elliman since 1994, was released today. We had problems with our web site host all morning and couldnt get the reports loaded until early afternoon.

Other reports we prepare can be found here.

The 1Q 2010 data(coming later today) and a series of charts (acoming later today).

Press coverage can be found here once we get around to uploading it. In the meantime….

An excerpt

>……There were approximately
twice the number of sales in the first quarter of
2010 as the same period a year ago, however,
this is the first quarter-over-quarter decline in
the past year. The number of sales jumped 99.5%
to 2,384 sales in the first quarter from 1,195 sales
in the same period a year ago, but declined
3.6% from 2,473 sales in the prior quarter. The
number of sales over the last three quarters has
been consistent with the 2,301 quarterly average
number of sales over the last decade. The first
quarter of 2009 saw the lowest level of sales
activity over the prior 15 years and was reflective
of the nearly “frozen” market conditions after the
Lehman Brothers bankruptcy in the autumn of
2008 and the onset of the credit crunch. The
rise in the number of sales over the past year
reflected a release of “pent-up” demand resulting
in a decline in the number of apartments available
for sale. Low mortgage rates, a surging stock
market, tax credits, and a new affordability from
a sharp decline in property values stimulated
demand. There were 8,027 listings at the end
of the first quarter, 23.1% below the 10,445
listings in the same period last year, but 17.2%
higher than the prior quarter total of 6,851. This
excludes, however, an estimated 6,500 units of
new development “shadow inventory”. Although
inventory is at its second highest level of the past
decade, total inventory remains slightly above
the ten year average of 7,117 listings…

Download 1Q 2010 Manhattan Market Overview