This is the first in a three-part series today covering the Manhattan housing market since autumn 2007.

Manhattan condo sales dropped 22.6 percent annually in the third quarter of 2008, according to a new report from appraisal firm Miller Samuel and brokerage giant Prudential Douglas Elliman. At the same time, the 12 months from September 2007 to now, the median sales price, the average sales price and the average sales price per square foot for a Manhattan condo increased.

With lower downpayments and no co-op board process, condos are the gateway buy for many New York homeowners; and therefore a solid barometer of where the borough's housing market has been and where it may be going in tougher economic times.  read more »

There were 665 new foreclosures in Queens during the third quarter of 2008, according to PropertyShark's new report (PDF here), which accounted for half of the new foreclosure auctions in New York City and helped push New York’s quarterly foreclosures to a two-year high of 1,118.

In general, first-time foreclosures were higher in the outer boroughs and relatively non-existent in Manhattan, where there were only 35 in the three months ending Sept. 30. Staten Island had the second-highest number, with 174, followed by Brooklyn (165) and the Bronx (79).  read more »

"Change is part of nature's progression. As much as we all romanticize about how it was back then in NYC, we cannot be complacent and let it roll over us. I do miss the gritty NYC but how does one adapt to a changed city when one is emotionally attached to it's past. Like a relationsship, it evolves and thus so do we. Bring it on. The cultural, avante garde and the the hip will always have a spot here. It will be different but NYC can not exist without it. Stick to your guns people, accept the change, but adapt to it. Dont change because of it." ["The Incredibly Shrinking Native Manhattanite in Manhattan"]

"We are a very happy and yet jaded people," said Zoe Schneider, 36, the creator of Zoe Lou Designs, a line of New York-themed kid's clothes.

Ms. Schneider was standing at the dimly lit entrance of Dusk Lounge bar on West 24th Street last Tuesday evening. Inside was September's gathering of The Magic Garden, a regular congregation of people raised in the five boroughs.

Ms. Schneider is the club's founder.

"We used to play 'where's the native' at Luna Lounge," she said, talking about how she arrived at the idea for the club.  read more »

Here's a breakdown of Manhattan and Brooklyn housing prices in the second quarter of 2008, according to reports from Miller Samuel and Douglas Elliman.

Average sales price

• Manhattan: $1,669,729
• Brooklyn: $588,441

Median sales price

• Manhattan: $1,025,000
• Brooklyn: $525,000

Average condo sales price

• Manhattan: $1,937,090
• Brooklyn: $601,280

Median condo sales price

• Manhattan: $1,267,000
• Brooklyn: $514,725

Average co-op sales price

• Manhattan: $1,280,201
• Brooklyn: $332,250

Median co-op sales price

• Manhattan: $755,000
• Brooklyn: $255,000

Next Tuesday is April 1, and the first-quarter housing market reports for Manhattan will start trickling out from brokerages like Halstead, Corcoran and Douglas Elliman. What will they say about home sales?

No one knows for certain, of course, but the speculation should pick up noticably in the next few days so here goes:

The first quarter of any year is usually relatively paltry in terms of the number of closed deals because those deals were cut in the winter months, which are normally among the slowest in Manhattan housing.  read more »

Manhattan's population grew 3.8 percent from July 1, 2001--two months before September 11--to July 1, 2007, according to new Census estimates. The borough's population now stands at an estimated 1,620,867. That's roughly 71,403 Manhattanites per square mile.

Brooklyn is the seventh-largest county in the United States, according to new census estimates. The County of Kings has 2,528,050 residents. Queens was No. 10 with 2,270,338; and Manhattan was No. 19 with 1,620,867 residents. The census' estimates run through July 1, 2007.

Although all three experienced population gains over previous years' estimates going back to 2000, none were among the nation's 100 fastest-growing counties; nor were the Bronx or Staten Island. The Bronx was No.  read more »

I wrote in this week's paper about how, even after all the calamitous economic news (like Bear Stearns' collapse), Manhattan rents appear buoyant if not strong. Most of the average rents I cited were for one-bedroom apartments.  read more »

Brokers, developers, and the media have been trumpeting the resilience of Manhattan’s condo and co-op market for nearly a year, and now even the Federal Reserve has singled it out in the latest installment of its regional survey known as the “Beige Book.”  read more »