Long-time blogger / honest agent Doug Heddings has an interesting slice of current Manhattan coop and condominium market data from PruDE's signed contracts files for weeks ending from March 6 through April 3. Go there for the kernels on his True Gotham blog. but here is one nugget:

 

Spread between contract price and last asking price = 9.7%; between contract price and original asking price = 19%. Quick comment: Sellers are still having trouble finding the price points where buyers are.

 

Another nugget:

 

Monthly transactions are increasing since November; this 4 week March set is up 24% over February. Quick comment: maybe there really are more buyers out there who find sellers who will negotiate in the right zone. (They are not showing up as Manhattan loft closings yet, however.)

 

Last nugget (then be sure to go to Doug's blog for his complete report):

 

65% of contracts signed were below $1mm; 87% below $2mm. Quick comment: I only find comparable Miller Samuel data for the "under $1mm" range; in 2008, 'only' 53% of the total sales were under $1mm (see Miller Samuel's 10 year market report ending 2008, at p6; pdf, here); in 2007 the figure was 58% (pdf here, p6 again); in 2006, 64% (pdf here, still p6). I couldn't find 2005 numbers, or earlier, but you can see where this trend has been trending....

 

Note that Doug posts PruDE data, not Miller Samuel data, such as is reported in the quarterly, annual and ten-year market reports co-branded by Miller Samuel and PruDE (i.e., the 65% number for contracts signed under $1mm in March 2009 is a smaller sample than the Miller Samuel number because it is only PruDE contracts, not just because it is less than one-twelfth of a year). But it is some data, at least.

This is the kind of in-house info that firms used to keep (still tend to keep) under wraps, as they feel it gives them a competitive advantage -- with no particular interest in transparency or serving consumers who are not clients. The blogging world is different, thankfully. So thank you, Doug.