NYC real estate pros hope for stable market in ’08

The real estate industry is anxiously trying to figure out what economic uncertainty means for the New York City market. Wall Street jobs make up only 5 percent of the city’s total jobs, but 23 percent of the city’s total wages. Some analysts think that the recent round of bonuses were merely flat, and didn’t drop off as feared. Bonuses usually get the spring market going. “That energy of the bonus money really does get the spring market percolating,” said Diane M. Ramirez, president of Halstead Property. “The bonus tends to be the starting gate for them.”