MANHATTAN COOPERATIVE APARTMENTS APPRECIATED AGAIN DESPITE 2002’S WEAK ECONOMY, SAYS REBNY’S ANNUAL CO-OP SALES REPORT; ASKING PRICE-TO-SALES PRICE RATIO UNCHANGED, NUMBER OF REPORTED TRANSACTIONS UP

Studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom Manhattan cooperative apartments all appreciated ten percent in median price per room during 2002, according to the Real Estate Board’s Annual Cooperative Sales Report, while the same index for transfers of three-bedroom units showed three percent in appreciation. Only four-bedroom-and larger apartments dipped in median price per room. The relationship between asking prices and selling prices was virtually unchanged from 2001 to 2002. Significantly more apartments sales were reported for 2002. There were 2,060 transactions (excluding the 288 sales presented by new participating brokerages) compared with the 1,762 sales recorded in 2001.

REBNY Executive Vice President Deborah B. Beck said, “Although the city’s economy suffered a second consecutive year in the doldrums, Manhattan cooperative apartments continued to rise in value. A weak stock market, uncertainties about possible military engagement in the Middle East and increasing unemployment failed to put a brake on appreciation.”

Hall Willkie of Brown Harris Stevens, Chairman of the Real Estate Board’s Residential Research Committee, noted that “The co-op sector’s continued strength in adverse economic conditions suggests that apartment ownership is being correctly recognized as a centerpiece of long-term personal financial planning by many families and individuals.”

The median prices per room of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments reached $101,600, $117,143 and $177,222 respectively, the Board reported. The figure for three-bedroom apartments was $250,235. Four-bedroom and larger units, a category where very few transfers occur, posted a median price per room of $340, 104, down slightly from the prior year’s mark of $344,444.

Here are some of the report’s other highlights:

• Prewar East Side co-ops almost reached the million-dollar- per-room median price; their $995,000 consideration was 16 percent higher than the comparable 2001 price.
• Postwar East Side cooperatives were up 18 percent in median price per room from 2001 at $512,000.
• Prewar West Side co-ops increased most in median price per room over 2001’s figure—23 percent—to $650,000.
• Postwar West Side cooperative apartments rose 14 percent in median price per room to $449,000.
• Downtown’s market demonstrated considerable resilience with a 14 percent rise in median sales price to $376,000 with loft consideration north of Houston Street up 5 percent over 2001’s price and 4 percent lower than that market south of the thoroughfare.