Have we hit the 'summer slow down'?

Of course, they're price drops off prices that were already down...

Kind of. Some of these places were overpriced last summer. Some have come down 2, 3, or 5%. They're still not selling, and I'm just seeing fewer listings all over....

Someone needs to explain why, after "price drops", prices of apartments in non-distinctive building like The Marais in Chelsea are still more than double what they were in 2003. Is there anything sane about that?

no, and that's the problem for the sellers who aren't finding buyers. they either believe they still can get any price they want or they bought at a high price and really don't want to take a loss... or... they don't 'need' to sell so they can wait as long as they want.

My estimation, only 15-20% of the Manhattan market is priced to sell and that's what we see predominately moving. It's tough to look at price choppers, see 40 and 50% reductions, and then look back at the only two to three apartments your interested in, and see they have moved down 7-12% from pre-Lehman brothers peak. I have lots of faith we'll get another 20% price reduction across the board in Manhattan over the next 18 months. I think the 80% of apartment sellers who aren't moving their units will figure out their new reality between Labor Day and Christmas. Lowering your price is like a divorce, you got to hold on for a year or two to some false sense that things will work themselves out, then you take the plunge, because you've been so miserable for so long (i.e. hosting open houses every weekend for 18 months). P.S. I'm really happliy married last 5+ years, nothing to read into here, except my experience with matrimonial law.