We published our Manhattan Townhouse report, a ten year moving window data compendium of the market from 2003-2012. For the past 26 years we’ve been tracking the townhouse market, it has remained a small luxury subset representing a few percentage points of the overall residential market so a detailed quarterly or monthly analysis isn’t practical. This is part of an evolving market report series I’ve been writing for Douglas Elliman since 1994.

Key Points

MANHATTAN TOWNHOUSE 2003-2012

– Sales were at highest level since the credit crunch began, the third highest total of decade.
– Housing prices remain 25% below the 2008 peak (which was a significant spike), housing sales are 19.2% below 2007 peak.
– Housing price indicators were mixed, showing overall stability for the most recent four year period.
– Listing inventory fell sharply from the prior year, resulting in the fastest absorption rate in 6 years.
– Single family sales showed more year-over-year improvement in price and sales than the balance of the market.

Here’s an excerpt from the report:

…Townhouse sales rose to 277, their highest level since 343 sales were reached in 2007 before the onset of the credit crunch. The 15.4% increase in sales this year marks the third consecutive yearover- year increase in activity. Consistent with the rise in sales was the 18.9% drop in listing inventory to 411 and the two month drop in days on market to 106. Market share for East Side sales led all regions, jumping to 26% from 20.8% in 2011. The year-over-year change in price indicators were mixed with a 4.2% decline in median sales price, a 6.1% gain in average sales price and a 12.2% rise in average price per square foot…

Later today we’ll have additional information available on the market so you can build your own custom data tables and browse our chart library.

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The Elliman Report: 2003-2012 Manhattan Townhouse Report [Miller Samuel] The Elliman Report: 2003-2012 Manhattan Townhouse Report [Douglas Elliman] Market Chart Library [Miller Samuel] Aggregated Custom Market Data Tables [Miller Samuel]