After a slowdown in the beginning of 2009 and the end of 2008, contract
signings rose in June, July and the beginning of August, brokers said.
Each month has been busier than the previous one, said Dottie Herman,
president of Prudential Douglas Elliman. The first-time homebuyer tax
credit spurred some purchases, as did low interest rates, according to
brokers. Prices have not yet followed contract signings upward, but
brokers said they are hopeful that prices won’t fall another 20 or 30
percent before the market hits bottom. Inventory peaked in May,
according to Streeteasy.com, and has fallen since.

From the August issue: The summer of 2009 has turned out to be a confusing time for New York
City real estate. While Goldman Sachs reported record earnings and Fed
Chairman Ben Bernanke talked optimistically about green shoots, the
bleakest, leanest winter in recent memory gave way to an uptick in
contract signings, filling brokers with hope that the worst days of the
downturn have passed.
At the same time, unemployment surged to 9.5 percent in the city,
and second-quarter market reports proclaimed double-digit declines in
real estate values. The Department of Buildings published a list of 362
stalled construction sites in the five boroughs, evidence of the
continuing stranglehold of the credit crisis. 

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