The first three months of the year was bad for the Manhattan real estate industry with home sales down by 47% compared to the number of sales in the same period last year. This was said to be a result of buyers getting jittery from closing deals due to the downfall of banking giants and the Wall Street meltdown. Prudential Douglas Ellima Real Estate and Miller Samuel Appraiser Inc reported that this year’s inventory of unsold units is the highest for this decade.

The inventories show a 15% increase in the number of unsold units at 10,445 which is way above the number of unsold units in the last three months of 2008. The report, which caused quite a stir, is evident that the once-bulletproof real estate market of Manhattan is not that invincible. Jonathan Miller president Miller Samuel said this is just the beginning of the impact of the economy from September last year.

A quarterly report released by the Corcoran Group shows a 2% reduction in the average price of Manhattan apartments at $925,000. Corcoran CEO Pamela Liebman said there is a great difference in the price range of buyers and sellers. But since Manhattan is not a city of desperate sellers she estimated the reduction in home sales to be at 52%. The biggest casualty of the home sales slump is the luxury segment which according to a Brown Harris Stevens report, decreased by 87%.