A recent Douglas Elliman market report made big news when it found the average apartment price in Manhattan during the first quarter was nearly $1 million.
But reports from other companies found prices at not quite so stratospheric levels, although finding percentage increases were similar to the quarter before.
The Douglas Elliman Manhattan Market Overview, prepared by appraisal firm Miller Samuel, found the average sales price jumped to a record-setting $998,905 during the first quarter, up from $903,259 the quarter before.
Meanwhile, a Brown Harris Stevens report pegged the first quarter average at a lower $899,335.
Both reports found a similar percentage increase compared to the last quarter of 2003 -the Douglas Elliman report saw a 10.6 percent rise in apartment prices and the Brown Harris Stevens report cited an 11 percent jump in prices.
The Douglas Elliman report also noted that listing inventory continued to contract during the first quarter, but appears to be bottoming out.
The number of apartments for sale fell 11.2 percent to 4,299 apartments for sale during the first quarter, down from 4,843 units in the fourth quarter.
Apartment inventory had started to decline with the second quarter of last year, and has continued to contract, declining for ten out of eleven months, the report said.
Inventory appeared to reach its lowest point in February, when there were only 3,994 units available. Apartment inventory actually increased in March by 7.6 percent, the report said, as sellers began to list properties in anticipation of the spring market.
As a result of declining inventory, the number of sales dropped by 19.1 percent to 1,825 apartments, down from 2,256 apartments sold in the fourth quarter.
The number of days it took to sell a Manhattan apartment in the first quarter, 98 days, was shortened by more than a month compared to the quarter before.
In addition, the negotiability of the sales price of an apartment was at its lowest level in more than a year. The average discount from list price was 2.6 percent for the quarter, down from the 2.9 percent in the prior quarter and 4 percent in the prior year quarter.