Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Manhattan apartments prices rose again in the second quarter, defying the gravity pulling down

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Manhattan apartments prices rose again in the second quarter, defying the gravity pulling down most of the U.S. housing market, the head of Prudential Douglas Elliman said on Wednesday.

Although the second-quarter Prudential Douglas Elliman Manhattan Market Overview won't be released until Tuesday, the results will show that prices continued to rise and supply dwindled, Dottie Herman, president and chief executive, said at the Reuters Real Estate Summit in New York.

"We were up for Manhattan," Herman said, adding the figures to be released on Tuesday may show record prices.

"We were up in volume and sales and average sales price," she said. It also took slightly less time to sell an apartment, down to about 132 days from 136, she said.

The supply of apartments for sale also fell.

"Appreciation is up and the inventory is down, which is very unusual for a spring market for inventory to be down," she said, adding that Manhattan home owners tend to wait until spring to sell their apartments.

Herman attributed Manhattan's stellar performance to a confluence of limited ability to build on the island, Manhattan's international draw, baby boomers and older people moving into Manhattan to retire, and its continue allure to younger people. Relatively low mortgage rates, which averaged about 6.7 percent lately, also helped keep demand steady.

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