As financing for single-family housing has dried up, developers are increasingly looking towards clustered housing such as townhouses in Long Island, the New York Times reported.

The most active Long Island buyers — young couples and people just starting families — are choosing clustered housing for practical and financial reasons. A townhouse not only requires less exterior maintenance, it is less likely to lose value, the Times said.

“What was once the prized development to build is now the least attractive — single-family homes,” Glen Cherveny, an architect at Axelrod & Cherveny in Commack, L.I. told the Times. [more]

From the March issue: Recession notwithstanding, the median sales price of a Manhattan townhouse jumped 13.2 percent between 2009 and 2010, according to appraisal firm Miller Samuel. One reason for the jump is that, unlike condos, very few newly built townhouses have been added to the housing stock, according to Jonathan Miller, the president and CEO of Miller Samuel. That begs the question of why so many New Yorkers spend millions to painstakingly renovate historic brownstones, rather than just building new houses. After all, many Manhattanites love newly built condos, and modern McMansions have spread like wildfire across the country in recent years. [more]

5 East 93rd Street

A landmarked townhouse at 5 East 93rd Street has hit the market for $24.5 million. The home is owned by Lynn Jawitz, a famed florist once profiled by the New York Post, whose work has been featured in Modern Bride, New York and Fortune magazines. The townhouse, which includes an elevator and garden, is being marketed by Salmon & Co.’s Stephen Salmon, who said he wouldn’t comment on the listing. Jawitz, according to public record, purchased the 6,254-square-foot townhouse for $4.25 million in 2002, according to Streeteasy. TRD [more]

Both the single-family and multi-family Manhattan townhouse markets showed signs of improvement last year, according to the Corcoran Group, which released its first annual Townhouse Report today. In the single-family market, the number of sales climbed 68 percent year-over-year to 96, while the median sales price inched up 6 percent during the same time period, reaching $5.83 million. Multi-family townhouses, which Corcoran defines as housing two to four families, saw a more tepid level of activity. TRD [more]

156 West 88th Street

From the March issue: On the gutted second floor of 34 East 68th Street, residential real estate broker George van der Ploeg is giving a mini-lecture on 19th-century architecture. A rectangular staircase pillar isn’t original to the 1879 brownstone, says van der Ploeg, who is marketing the $11.975 million listing with fellow Prudential Douglas Elliman broker Nancy Aryeh. However, another round post a few feet away, topped with an elaborate handrail, “is original, and would have been mahogany, though it’s covered with about 10 layers of paint,” he says. Townhouse specialists like van der Ploeg are a vanishing breed. [more]

Since many townhouse buyers insist on properties at least 20 feet wide, narrower homes can be difficult to sell, brokers told New York magazine. “The challenge is getting people through the door,” said Nan Shipley of Rand Realty, who is currently marketing a four-bedroom, 15-foot-wide townhouse on West 95th Street. Jed Garfield, whose firm Leslie J. Garfield & Co. specializes in brownstones and townhouses, said he has never heard anyone say that they want a smaller house. “People almost always end up there by default,” he said. According to appraiser Jonathan Miller of Miller Samuel, narrower houses are rapidly losing market share. [more]

Leonard Steinberg, managing director at Prudential Douglas Elliman

From the March issue:
It’s not your average buyer who can afford a Manhattan townhouse during the good times. And now, because the wealthy have been hit hard by the downturn and have less purchasing power, the pool of townhouse buyers has shrunk even more.

This month, The Real Deal talked to analysts and townhouse brokers about how one of the most specialized residential sectors of the luxury market (a market that has suffered severely since the downturn started) is holding up. According to one report, townhouses have seen an average sale price drop of 32 percent over the past year.

Some townhouses have seen even greater declines. One broker cited 16 West 12th Street, which was listed for $25 million and ultimately sold for 40 percent less, at $15 million.

Despite those price cuts, another broker said townhouses are still the most overpriced sector of the residential market, joking that there should be a tour called “Overpriced Townhouses in the 70s.”

For more on what kinds of homes are faring best and worst and who is still in the market to buy, we turn to our panel of experts.