Jonathan Miller Has Had a Very Good August--Harbinger or Blip?

Take note: On his blog Matrix the other day, appraiser Jonathan Miller casually pointed out that his firm Miller Samuel “set a record for sales in [the] first half of August.”

We were curious about this "record," so we decided to give Mr. Miller a buzz to get some more information.

“It was the busiest half of a month of any month that we have ever had,” Mr. Miller told The Observer. “A lot of the work that we have been doing has been with high-end properties, so that may have something to do with it.”

Mr. Miller also attributed the good month to lender activity.

“It really depends what your mix is at that moment," he said. "We are more heavily weighted with lenders that are currently in the market as opposed to out of the market, so that helped.”

Whatever the reason, the fact that one of Manhattan's leading home appraisers is having a busy month probably bodes well for sellers and brokers. Or perhaps it's just a blip of activity in a season--the summer--when home sales are supposed to be slow because everyone's in the Hamptons or something.