survey - 59% say bonus season will impact their ability to buy an apartment

No need to worry. Stevejhx probably voted 950 times on the Corcoran site!

I wonder how the question was worded. A "Yes" answer could, of course, mean that the respondent expects a crappy bonus to crimp her ability to buy. On the other hand, it could mean she's expecting a great bonus that will strengthen her position. Or a respondent who works outside finance and might expect low Wall Street bonuses to improve her RELATIVE purchasing power and push prices down to a level she can afford.

Either way, you have to figure 60% of market players are going to have an expectation of lower prices if bonuses take the expected hit. That doesn't bode well for prices.

nyc10022, how do you figure? Based on West81st's post, there are indeed several interpretations to the answer. I'm guessing most people meant it would affect them negatively, but I'm pretty sure there were some going the other way too.

bj123, what percentage do you think are going the other way? 5%? 10%?

"Stevejhx probably voted 950 times on the Corcoran site!"

I'm not looking for real estate. Vastly overpriced.

nyc10022: I actually agree with you, but you can see the fundamental problem when people who have no training in the fine art of opinion polling gather responses on a website and then publish the results. A sloppily-worded question can produce completely misleading results, especially when you consider the inherent lack of sample control.

zizizi, I honestly have no idea. I don't think anyone else does either. I'd guess it's low, but the larger point (West81st's point actually), is that these kinds of rudimentary polls should be taken with several large grains of salt. I would not draw any large conclusions from them.

wow, you THINK??

the dem's boy barney frank just announced he thinks wall street bonuses should be frozen and institute a moratorium for them. i'd say that would severely affect nyc housing prices.

streakeasy, this new democratic Congress HATES Wall Street. It should be a concern the regs these law makers ultimately implement to make sure this financial fiasco never happens again. If history is any guide, they will go too far.

Every economic bust has their poster child. I'm afraid WS is in the bull's-eye of this one.

W81, I agree with you on the sentiment. You can completely manipulate responses.

That being said, if 60% of folks looking to buy are aware of / watching the bonus numbers, then to me that says bonus numbers will clearly have some impact. If they are as bad as projected, then we have 60% of folks anticipating panic. Whether buyer or seller, thats going to push down a market. If everyone is watching a certain factor, its going to drive things.