From the archives: Painful as it’s seemed, NYC’s bust only fourth-worst in past century

While ‘Great Recession’ has been a replay of an economic broken record, other real estate downturns have hit New York City much harder

Economists have determined that this recession, nationally, was the longest and deepest since the Great Depression. So it was only logical to expect that Manhattan, the epicenter of this financial crisis, would ultimately bear its worst brunt.

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So far, that hasn’t happened. Job losses and declines in housing values have been less severe than predicted, and most observers believe the recession to be officially over, with economic indicators across the board showing signs of a recovery. In fact, The Real Deal’s analysis of 100 years of statistics, editorial content, and interviews with real estate professionals who have spent decades in the business suggests that the “Great Recession” likely ranks as only the fourth-worst over the past century in terms of its overall impact on Manhattan. Read the full story from the July 2010 issue after the jump.