Manhattan Apartment Building Prices Hit Record High

The median sales price of Manhattan apartment buildings below 96th Street rose above $500 a square foot for the first time in the first half of 2007, according to a new report from investment-sales brokerage Massey Knakal and appraisal firm Miller Cicero.

The sales price for elevator apartment buildings reached $517 a foot in the first half of the year and the price for walkups reached $508 a foot. These median were both sizable increases from the first half of 2006.

Other highlights from the report, including stats on Upper Manhattan apartment buildings, below:

• The number of walk-up buildings sold south of 96th Street in Manhattan more than doubled since the first half of 2006 – from 81 to 178. The number of elevator and mixed-use buildings were up by 19 percent.
• In Upper Manhattan, from the first half of 2006 to the first half of this year, average prices for walk-ups increased by nearly 15 percent, prices for elevator buildings were up by 19.5 percent and mixed-use building prices jumped by 53.6 percent

• The numbers of walk-up buildings sold in Upper Manhattan increased by 28.8 percent between the second half of last year and the first half of 2007.