Condo sales jumped 45.6 percent from the second quarter to the third, helping boost the median sales price of both new and resale units, according to a report prepared by the appraisal firm Miller Samuel Inc. for Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate.
The median price for a Manhattan condo grew by 1.7 percent from quarter to quarter, to $850,000, but was down 8.4 percent from a year ago, the report said.
Newly built condos were in greater demand than resale units, with the median price rising 7.6 percent from the previous quarter to $1.15 million, a gain of 1.3 percent from a year ago.
Sales of new condos accounted for only 22.2 percent of sales, however -- a two-year low -- and total condo sales were down 16 percent from a year ago.
The median price of resale condos was up 3.4 percent from quarter to quarter, to $750,000, an 8 percent decline from a year ago.
The 2,230 sales of both new and resale units represented a 45.6 percent increase from the previous quarter but a decline of 16 percent from a year ago. Days on market increased to 167, up from 162 in the second quarter and 134 a year ago.
The average price per square foot, at $996, was down 5.7 percent from the previous quarter and 16.5 percent from a year ago. Some sellers were also coming down significantly from asking price -- by an average of 7.6 percent from the last reported list, compared with 2.6 percent a year ago.