The Real Deal New York

 
Wall Street bonuses have helped keep up apartment prices in Manhattan, but between Lehman Brothers heading for liquidation and Merrill Lynch’s sale to Bank of America, apartment sales are expected to take a blow. The average apartment price in Manhattan was $1.7 million in the second quarter this year, down three percent from the first quarter, according to real estate appraisal firm Miller Samuel. Sales dropped a greater 22 percent between second-quarter 2007 and second-quarter 2008. Jonathan Miller, chief executive of Miller Samuel, said in 2009 there will be “lower volume and some weakness in price levels.”