The Monthly CORE Real Time Report is the only one of its kind in the Manhattan residential market.

As the fourth quarter of 2008 brought unsettling news we looked to the first quarter of 2009 to provide an indication of what to expect for the coming year and beyond. Although uncertainties in many aspects of the entire economic picture remain, there are some reassuring indicators to grasp at this point. Our new president has been a strong proponent of economic policies that will shore up badly damaged sectors of the economy and will no doubt continue to implement much needed regulation. As the financing needed to allow homebuyers to purchase property is loosened we will certainly see rises in numerous measures of consumer confidence. At this time, we are seeing a steady increase in sales volume, albeit down from this period last year, as sellers become more comfortable with realistic pricing in this cooled market.

February is always a pivotal month because of Wall Street bonuses. The expectation this year is that weakness in the financial sector will lead to a continued destabilized real estate market. Click here to read the report.

February saw a large increase in deal activity, especially in the one bedroom market with 123 new contracts signed. This is still an historically bleak number year to date, but a great improvement over the past three months. Contract prices continued to trend downwards in the one, two and three bedroom markets, but the luxury 5/6 bedroom segment of the market showed improvement in the number of contracts signed as well as a 54% increase in contract signed price from January. The greater volume of absorption this month is a direct result of lowered unit prices.

With the overall number of transactions remaining nominal, the market remains in a state of uncertainty and pause.

Dramatic changes in the economy at large have been reflected in the New York City real estate market and beyond. Continued expectations of significant increases in home values year after year are unrealistic. Prognosticators from across the real estate industry foresee prices returning to levels achieved prior to recent stratospheric rises.

The CORE Real Time Report for January highlights these changes by evaluating data from the most recent transactions to provide up to date information regarding the state of the market today.

The Monthly CORE Real Time Report is the first of its kind in the Manhattan residential market. It is an analysis of real-time information that tracks current contract pricing and absorption. This report is different from other published reports because it reflects existing contract data, not sold and closed data, which often takes months or years to be recorded. In order to get an accurate snapshot of the current market, contract data is the most pertinent information. Sold and closed data reflects historical market information and cannot be accurately attributed to a specific time in the market due to the nature of the length of a transaction. This is further skewed with new development transactions which can sometimes reflect more than a two year period from contract signing to closing. As is the case with all residential reports, the accuracy of this report is not 100%, but this is a very reliable snapshot of current market conditions. The information in this report is gathered from numerous sources and includes parameters in Manhattan below 96th Street and does not include new development data unless otherwise noted.