Fed's Beige Book: Manhattan Remains 'Sluggish'

Fed's Beige Book: Manhattan Remains 'Sluggish' Manhattan's housing market remains sluggish, though there are signs of stabilization, especially in the rental market. Co-op and condo sales transactions were reported to have doubled in the first quarter from the depressed levels of a year earlier but were still down modestly from the 4th quarter of 2009. Prices were also down modestly for the quarter and continued to run roughly 20 percent below a year earlier, with milder declines on studio and 1-bedroom apartments but steeper price drops on larger units. Manhattan's apartment rental market showed further signs of stabilizing in March: rents edged up and were down just 1½ percent from a year earlier, though vacancy rates rose modestly.