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In today’s WSJ there is a chart I made covering Manhattan absorption market wide by price segment – inspired by my monthly report series.

The article sort of suggests that condos are doing better than co-ops as a generalization, which isn’t quite correct or I am over analyzing the results. However, one thing is certain:

>Absorption for lower-end condos and co-ops is being driven by conforming mortgage financing being more readily available than jumbo financing.

My takeaways from the chart are:

* Co-ops are taking longer to absorb than condos above $3M (not considering “shadow inventory” of new development.
* Co-op and condo absorption is generally on par with the 10 year 9.9 month average overall rate of absorption.
* Co-ops edge out condos (faster) below $1.5M
* Co-ops over $10M are significantly higher than condos but this segment is about 1% of all sales so the results are easily skewed.
* Lower priced property generally absorbs faster.

Absorption has greatly improved from last summer yet there is still a distinction in performance between the upper and lower end of the market.