Manhattan Apartment Sales Jump, Buyers Seek Bargains

Manhattan apartment sales doubled in the first quarter as bargain-hunting buyers scooped up co-ops and condos in a market where resale prices have fallen an average 29 percent since their peak.

The number of sales soared to 2,384 from 1,195 a year earlier, New York appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and broker Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate said today. The median price for a co-op or condo slid 11 percent to $868,000.

Values fell across apartments of all sizes as New York City recorded 10.2 percent unemployment in February. Fallout from the recession and credit crisis that cost more than 184,000 finance jobs in the Americas is still hurting New York. The city lost 5.4 percent of its finance industry jobs in the 12 months ending in February, the state Labor Department said March 25. (more)