Residential market to drag feet through 2009

Residential real estate professionals expect low prices and declining sales to
carry on through the year. In a discussion on the state of the 2009 market on a CNBC segment, Gregory Heym, chief economist at Brown Harris Stevens, said there will continue to be fewer sales this year because of increasing layoffs and the decline of Wall Street bonuses. The median price in Manhattan fell 2 percent between the third and fourth quarters of 2008, according to a fourth-quarter BHS report. However, Paula Del Nunzio, a senior vice president and managing director at BHS, said that “unique” apartments, like a penthouse, or a particularly large or small apartment, will always fetch a high price, no matter what the state the market is in. CNBC’s Diana Olnick said that while low interest rate loans are available, loans in Manhattan probably won’t have low rates because the median co-op price is twice the conventional loan limit.