Brokers say deals picking up

Brokers say the real estate market is turning up as buyers, tired of looking and waiting, are becoming more serious about purchasing homes. Brokers say deals first picked up in the studio and one-bedroom markets, then apartments under $3 million started seeing more activity, and in the last few weeks, a number of deals have been done in the above $10 million market. However, deals are still being done, at prices about 30 percent less than a year ago, and the number of closed sales filed with the city remains near its lowest level in many years. As of the end of May, the overall number of apartments closing in the second quarter was off 55 percent from the same period a year earlier, though up slightly from the first quarter. “You did see an upturn in activity this time of year,” said Jonathan Miller, president of appraisal firm Miller Samuel, adding that it wasn’t a robust spring and did not “undo the damage that occurred last fall.”