From the May issue: The stock market is soaring. Unemployment is falling. And consumers seem newly confident. But at least one major obstacle is preventing a surge in residential sales in New York City: Even if buyers want to purchase homes, there aren’t many to choose from. In fact, the current inventory crunch, the worst in recent memory, has become the defining feature of New York’s residential market.

At the end of the first quarter, there were just 4,960 co-ops and condos in Manhattan for sale — a stunning 34 percent decrease from 7,560 in the same period of last year, according to data from Douglas Elliman. [more]

Click to enlarge

In recent years, the Manhattan residential market has careened up and down like a roller coaster. But the number of transactions has largely remained on par from where they were in the early 2000s, even as prices have climbed, a report released today by Douglas Elliman shows. The report tracked the Manhattan condo and co-op market over the past decade beginning in 2003. [more]

The Hamptons

Activity was up, but average and median prices were down in the Hamptons in the third quarter of 2012, reports from leading brokerages show. A flurry of activity in the lower end — especially the sub -$1 million range — bolstered the market overall, as the area continues its long, slow recovery from the Lehman Brothers collapse, industry analysts told The Real Deal.

The number of sales in the Hamptons in the third quarter was 443 this year, up 8 percent from 412 year-over-year, numbers from the Corcoran Group show. But the average and median sales prices declined 11 and 12 percent, respectively, the report says, to $1.32 million from $1.43, and to $775,000 from $879,000. [more]

Brooklyn (credit: Prudential Douglas Elliman)

Brooklyn’s sales market is constrained by plummeting inventory, but retains a relatively healthy luxury market, much like the Manhattan market in the third quarter, Prudential Douglas Elliman’s report for the period shows.

Inventory was the lowest it has been in four years this past quarter, dropping 16.2 percent, to 5,602 units from 6,688 units year-over-year. Pricing was barely changed, however – down 0.8 percent in the borough from this period last year. The report tracks condominiums, co-ops and single-family homes.  [more]

New York City

New York City’s home sales market showed positive signs in the third quarter with both home prices and sales volume continuing to increase at steady pace, according to a Real Estate Board of New York report released today. As average home sales prices across the city inched up 1 percent year-over-year to $786,000, sales volume increased 6 percent year-over-year. [more]

From the October issue: If a year ago the watchword for buyers was cautious, this October a better term might be competitive.

In the third quarter of this year, sales of Manhattan condominiums and co-ops rose 11.5 percent, to 2,952 transactions from 2,647, compared to the previous quarter, according to a market report prepared by appraisal firm Miller Samuel for Prudential Douglas Elliman.

The median sale price increased 7.4 percent, to $890,000 from $829,000, in the same span — thanks largely to a whopping 45.4 percent increase in the median price of new development units, to $1.49 million, the data show. [more]

Manhattan

Manhattan residential sales have held flat in the face of a precipitous fall in inventory in the third quarter of 2012, reports from leading brokerages show.

Inventory in Manhattan is down 24.3 percent year-over-year — its lowest level since 2005 — third quarter numbers from Prudential Douglas Elliman show. And while those numbers may not bode well for the market in the immediate-term, they leave open the possibility of a brighter 2013, Jonathan Miller, president of the real estate analytics firm Miller Samuel and author of Elliman’s market report, told The Real Deal. [more]

From the September issue: What a difference a year makes — at least when it comes to Manhattan’s residential real estate market. As the fall of 2011 began, the country was reeling. Following the near-stalemate in Congress over raising the debt ceiling, Standard & Poor’s had downgraded U.S. debt.

Occupy Wall Street protesters began camping out in Zuccotti Park — a glaring reminder of an arrested economic recovery. And European leaders were struggling to resolve Greece’s debt woes, which threatened to topple neighboring economies and even spread across the pond. [more]

Average price per square foot of sold condos in Long Island City (source: Modern Spaces)

Condominium prices in Long Island City have responded to a dwindling inventory, especially of smaller units, and are rising for studios and one-bedrooms while falling for larger homes, a market report released today by the brokerage Modern Spaces showed.

Just 6 percent of the existing condominium inventory is currently available for purchase. Modern Spaces, which has spoken with developers such as TF Cornerstone and Rockrose Development about their forthcoming projects, expects just 250 more condo units to be delivered in the next 24 months, which would further depress supply. [more]

The property at 232 Parsonage Lane is the most expensive closed sale in Sagaponack in 2012

The number of Hamptons home sales rose 9 percent in the second quarter of 2012 to 414 transactions, from 379, as the luxury market remained largely flat and median prices fell across the area, according to a report released today by East End brokerage Town & Country Real Estate.

While Judi Desiderio, founder of Town & Country, said she anticipated an increase in transactions, she was expecting a greater year-over-year jump. [more]