The lower end of the Manhattan residential market is lagging behind the soaring luxury market, the New York Times reported.

“There is a greater disconnect between the very top of the market and everything else than I have ever seen in my 25 years in the business,” said Jonathan Miller, president of the appraisal firm Miller Samuel. [more]

The average daily rate for hotels nationwide remained relatively flat for the week ending Oct. 9, compared to a week earlier, data from Smith Travel Research showed. The ADR climbed just 2.2 percent week-over-week, according to Hotel News Now, reaching $101.58. The revenue per available room showed more considerable gains, climbing 8.8 percent week-over-week to $64.62. The luxury segment, however, showed significant increases in its ADR and revpar, increasing 7.7 percent to $261.43 and 13.8 percent to $190.93, respectively. The luxury segment was the only part of the market to seen an ADR increase of more than 5 percent. Occupancy across the entire market climbed 6.5 percent last week, reaching 63.6 percent. TRD

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In the wake of a massive foreclosure freeze among the nation’s biggest banks, experts are worried that stalling foreclosures could bring more pain to the market. In this CNBC video, Prudential Douglas Elliman broker Dolly Lenz said that these concerns have extended into the luxury market. “It’s a whole negative zeitgeist in the real estate world,” Lenz said.

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In the wake of luxury home builder Toll Brothers’ surprising third-quarter report, which showed the company’s shares have climbed 6 percent since the last fiscal quarter, many market analysts are quick to compare the company to other luxury good purveyors that have thrived despite recessionary stress. But the Wall Street Journal’s Dawn Wotapka said it’s dangerous to compare Toll to luxe companies like Tiffany & Co. Despite that “general argument… that high-end consumers are faring better than the broader market,” builder analyst Stifel Nicolaus said, mass-market builders and a lack of discretionary products from Toll mean the company lacks maneuverability. “There is no “Breakfast at Toll,” Wotapka said, referring to the popular Audrey Hepburn film, noting that there no such thing as a Toll silver telephone dialer, either. [WSJ]

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Sales at the low end of the market have picked up since the doldrums of
this fall’s financial crisis, which caused real estate activity to
grind to a virtual halt, but the luxury market still shows little
improvement, according to Core Group Marketing’s Real Time Report for
the second quarter of 2009, released today. The report, which pools data from Core’s database, shows real-time
residential market trends throughout a three-month period. The firm’s
data showed 582 contracts signed in May, the most of any month in 2009
to date and the fifth straight month of increased apartment sales in
Manhattan. For example, the brokerage had 82 contracts for studios
signed in May, up from 58 in April and 53 in March. [more]