Buyers come back in March

Real Estate Weekly, May 14, 2003

Judging from a review of its March numbers, the Corcoran Group found buyers jumping back into the Manhattan real estate market last month after a palpable pause that occurred in February.

The average sale price for a condominium in March was $1.147 million, up 27.6% over the February average of $899,000. The average sales price for a co-op was $674,000, up 14.8% from $587,000 in February. The number of signed contracts on Manhattan properties jumped 31.8% in March 2003 over the previous month's figure, an indication of a rejuvenated commitment on the part of buyers.

Additional highlights of the Corcoran Group's March 2003 sales are as follows:

* The average sale price per room on signed contracts for the month of March 2003 was $200,000, up 11.1% over the previous month's figure of $180,000.

* The two and three bedroom market commanded 41% of the total number of contracts signed on all categories of properties combined.

* Price per square foot on all categories of properties combined was $701, up 4.9% over the previous month's figure of $668.

* The high end of the market showed resurgence in March 2003 with 50.8% more deals occurring in the $1 million and above category over the previous month.

* corcoran.com had a record 725,433 visitors for the month of March 2003. The web site also saw a 108% jump in March 2003 over March 2002 in the request for subscriptions for open house information. The service My Corcoran on corcoran.com experienced a staggering 183% jump in the number of people requesting information via e-mail on Manhattan property listings that met their specifications.