• The average rental price of a Manhattan apartment fell 3.3% to $3,710 per month from $3,839 in the same period last year. This was caused by the drop in the average size of a rental this quarter.
• Rental price per square foot increased 12.3% to $49.60 from $44.16 over the same period due to the higher price per square foot skew seen in smaller apartments.
• There were 5,659 rentals in the second quarter, more than double the level of activity during the same period last year. As a result of the surge in rental activity, listing inventory fell 31.8% to 4,972 units from 7,290 units over the same period.
• Days on market fell by one month to 53 days in the second quarter from 83 days in the prior year quarter as the higher level of rental activity and declining inventory reduced the marketing time of rental apartments.
• The discount between original list price and contract list price fell to 1.8% the lowest since the “Lehman tipping point” in 2008 as listing inventory fell sharply and landlords began to reduce their reliance on concessions.

• The number of sales continued to rise. There were 2,756 sales in the second quarter, up 79.9% from 1,532 sales in the prior year quarter and up 15.6% from 2,384 sales in the prior quarter.
• The number of sales was the highest in 2 years and higher than the 2,411 quarterly average of the past decade.
• Available listing inventory continued to decline. There were 8,157 listings in the second quarter, 13% below the 9,378 listing total of the prior year quarter, but up 1.6% from the prior quarter total of 8,027. The total level of available inventory was in sync with the 8,037 listing inventory average of the past five years.
• Price indicators remained stable over the year. Price per square foot was $1,051 per square foot in the second quarter, essentially unchanged from $1,056 per square foot in the prior year quarter and up 1.2% from $1,038 per square foot in the prior quarter.
• The other price indicators increased due to the 9.7% rise in square footage to 1,364 square feet, up from 1,243 square feet in the prior year quarter.
• Properties sold much more quickly in the quarter. The average days on market—thenumber of days between the last list price change, if any, to the contract date—fell to 105 days from 162 days in the prior year quarter.
• Sellers tested buyers this quarter by pricing properties higher, but were met with resistance.
• Listing discount—the percentage difference between the list price at time of contract and the contract price—increased to 9.1% from 7.8% in the same period last year.

• Average rental price was $3,812, down 8% from $4,142 in the prior year quarter, but up 0.6% from $3,789 in the prior quarter.
• Listing inventory fell 30.8% to 5,204 units in the first quarter from 7,522 in the prior year quarter, but was essentially unchanged from the 5,225 units in the prior quarter.
• Lease renewals and rising rental activity has kept inventory stable year to date.
• There were 2,663 new rentals, up 16.3% from 2,290 in the same period last year and up 8.4% from 2,456 rentals in the prior quarter.
• The average rental listing took 86 days to lease, one day longer than the 87 days seen in the in same period last year, but was 10 days slower than the 76 days on market in the fourth quarter of 2009.

• There were approximately twice the number of sales in the first quarter of 2010 as the same period a year ago. 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 saw a 3.6% decline from 2,473 sales in the prior quarter.
• 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 an estimated 6,500 units of new development “shadow inventory”. Listing inventory levels are slightly above the 7,117 average level for the decade.
• The median sales price of a Manhattan apartment was $868,000, 11% below the
• $975,000 median sales price of the prior year quarter, but 7.2% above the $810,000 median sales price of the prior quarter. This price indicator has shown stability since the second quarter of 2009.
• The average days on market—the number of days from the last list price change, if any, to the contract date—fell to 124 days from 170 days in the prior year quarter as properly-priced listings “moved to the head of the line” before a growing amount of over-priced inventory.
• Listing discount contracted sharply as sellers were becoming more in sync with market conditions. The listing discount fell to 5.4% from 12.4% in the prior year quarter and from 12.8% in the prior quarter.

Faith Hope Consolo, Chairman, Retail Leasing and Sales Division
of Prudential Douglas Elliman recently published the shop ’til you drop Spring 2010 New York Retail Leasing Report

• There were 402 Manhattan townhouses listed for sale at the end of 2009, 24.2% below the 530 listings available in 2008. Listing inventory was similar to the levels seen ten years ago reflecting the fixed nature of turn-of-the-century housing stock.

• The 2009 median sales price of a Manhattan townhouse—defined as a 1-5 family residence that can be delivered vacant—fell 31.9% from the record set in 2008 to $3,400,000 from $4,995,000.

• There were 149 townhouse sales in 2009, down 1.3% from 151 sales in the prior year. The average annual number of sales over the past decade was 249 sales, indicating that the number of sales over the past two years have been below trend levels.

• The listing discount, the amount buyers and sellers have to move to agree on price, expanded to 15.3% in 2009 from 6.9% in the prior year.

• The days on market for townhouse properties was 142 days in 2009, faster than the 155 days in 2008.

• The decline in market conditions left more sellers “chasing the market” when setting list prices

• After setting records in 2008, all three price indicators declined in 2009. This is the first time that any of the three price indicators have posted year-over-year declines since 1996.

• The 2009 median sales price of a Manhattan apartment was $850,000, down 11% from the record set in 2008 at $955,000

• Manhattan housing prices have doubled over the past decade. Price per square foot increased 105.6% to $1,073 from $522 in 2000.

• There were 7,430 sales in 2009, 27.9% fewer than were sold in 2008. However, the release of pent-up demand from the first half of 2009 caused the second half to see a surge in sales activity.

• The annualized pace of sales in the second half of 2009 was 9,400 units, higher than the 9,178 average annual number of sales over the last decade.

• There were 6,851 listings on the market at the end of 2009, 24.6% less than 9,081 listings in 2008, which was the highest level of inventory in the past decade. The 2009 inventory level was in line with the 6,860 average annual inventory level since 2000.

• Over the past decade, the Manhattan condo market has surpassed the co-op market in sales, beginning with a 40% market share and ending with a 54% market share. The gain was primarily due to the addition of new development sales to the housing stock.

The 2000-2009 Manhattan Market Report relaeased today and summarized above was prepared by Miller Samuel for Prudential Douglas Elliman.

“Sales activity was elevated as purchasers sought to take advantage of improved affordability brought on by low mortgage rates, the federal tax credit and lower housing prices.”

• There were 2,093 sales in the fourth quarter, 13.4% higher than 1,846 units in the same period last year and 13.3% higher than 1,847 units in the prior quarter.
• As a result of increased sales activity, inventory declined over the same period. There were 5,439 listings available at the end of the fourth quarter, 10% below the 6,042 listings available at the end of the same period a year ago and 2.9% below the 5,600 units available at the end of the prior quarter.
• The median sales price of a Brooklyn property was $447,174 in the fourth quarter, down 8.7%
• from $490,000 in the prior year quarter and down 6.1% from $476,000 in the prior quarter.
• Days on market expanded by a month to 163 days, from 133 days in the same period last year, but was essentially unchanged from 165 days in the prior quarter.
• Listing discount—the percent spread between the list price at the time of contract and the contract price—was 6%, up from 4% in the prior year quarter and up from 5.6% in the prior quarter.

“The fourth quarter 2009 Queens market experienced a surge in sales activity, with 55.6% more sales than during the same period a year ago. Consumers took advantage of the federal tax credit, low mortgage rates and more affordable prices. As a result of the increase in sales, listing inventory has fallen 10.6% and is at its lowest level in three years.”

• There were 4,260 sales in the fourth quarter, 55.6% more than the 2,737 sales of the prior year quarter and 52.7% more than the 2,789 sales in the prior quarter.
• Listing inventory is at its lowest level in three years. There were 8,778 properties listed for sale at the end of the fourth quarter, 10.6% below the 9,822 units listed for sale in the prior year quarter and 10.4% below the 9,797 units listed in the prior quarter.
• Prices continue to slip. Median sale price was $350,000, 7.9% below the $380,000 median sales price of the prior year quarter and 3.3% below the $362,000 median sales price of the prior quarter.
• The average days on market was 104 days, or two weeks longer than the 90 days on market in the prior year quarter.
• Listing discount, the spread between the last list price and contract price, fell to 6.1% in the fourth quarter, down from 8.7% in the prior year quarter and unchanged from the prior quarter.

Recently the industry has reported data on  fourth quarter  rentals for the Manhattan residential market. The Q4 Manhattan Rental Market Overview reported here and summarized below was prepared by Miller Samuel for Prudential Douglas Elliman.

• Average rental price declined 4.3% to $3,789 from $3,958 the same period last year but up 0.8% from $3,759 the prior quarter.
• Rental price per square foot declined 4.6% to $47.02 per square foot from $49.30 per square foot during the same period last year, and down 1.7% from $47.84 per square foot in the prior quarter.
• Median rental price declined 9.4% to $2,900 from $3,200 in the same period last year and down 1.7% from $2,950 in the prior quarter.
• Number of rentals surged 47.5% to 2,456 units from 1,665 units in the prior year quarter.
• Listing inventory fell 21.3% to 5,225 units from 6,640 units in the prior year quarter.
• Days on market were 76 days, down from 97 days this time last year.
• Listing discount was 6.5%, down from 6.9% in the same period last year.

The reports do not account for the incentives (concessions) that tenants are frequently offered in the current market, like months of free rent or waived brokers’ fees. It is worth noting that that if those factors had been taken into consideration, rents could appear considerably lower. Perhaps as high as 10% lower.

Experts remain cautiously optimistic about this year as the unemployment rate, which has a huge impact on the rental market, remains high. ”We are looking for more of the same in the first half of 2010–stable activity and pricing,” Mr. Miller said.

Jonathan Miller’s pod cast discussing the Q4 Manhattan Market Overview can be heard here.

In addition, reporting and analysis of  the Q4 Rental Market Survey were consolidated on the Miller Samuel website and shown below.

01/14/2010 PR Newswire Prudential Douglas Elliman 4th Quarter 2009 Manhattan Rental Market Overview

01/14/2010 Earth Times Prudential Douglas Elliman 4th Quarter 2009 Manhattan Rental Market Overview

01/14/2010 Business Week Manhattan Apartment Rents Drop 9.4% as City Job Losses Mount

01/14/2010 Bloomberg.com Manhattan Apartment Rents Drop 9.4% as City Job Losses Mount

01/14/2010 TheStreet.com Prudential Douglas Elliman 4th Quarter 2009 Manhattan Rental Market Overview

01/14/2010 The Real Deal Manhattan rental deals up in 4Q: reports

01/14/2010 Yahoo Finance Prudential Douglas Elliman 4th Quarter 2009 Manhattan Rental Market Overview

01/14/2010 Fox Business Prudential Douglas Elliman 4th Quarter 2009 Manhattan Rental Market Overview

In addition to the Prudential Douglas Elliman report, some of the above articles refer to the Citi Habitats Q4 Market report.