Report: Sales of Over-$20 M. Co-ops Jump

The number of Manhattan co-ops sold for at least $20 million increased over 110 percent in the first six months of 2008 compared with the same period in 2007, according to a new report from Stribling's Kirk Henckels. The report covers the over-$5 million townhouse and co-op market.

Of the 13 co-op sales of at least $20 million each in the first half of 2008, eight were on Fifth Avenue, four on Park Avenue and one on Central Park West.

The spike in sales at the top end of the co-op market (105 co-ops sold for at least $5 million in the first half of this year, a 52 percent-plus increase over the same time in '07) comes as sales slag in the Manhattan co-op market overall. There were 3,366 co-op sales in the first half of 2007, according to appraisal firm Miller Samuel, and 2,258 in the first half of this year.

The upbeat tone of Mr. Henckels' report hit its only low note in townhouse sales: the number of over-$5 million Manhattan townhouse sales fell 8.9 percent annually in the first half of 2008. However! There were five sales of over $30 million each from January through June, including the priciest: $49 million for the Milbank (a.k.a. Guccione) mansion on East 67^th Street.