The Big Apple: Area prices hold up pretty well

Hitting nine-year lows, prices of single-family homes in the region have held up better than elsewhere

Home prices in the New York area have hit their lowest level since the depths of the real estate downturn in mid-2009 and are now back to the averages of nine years ago, according to the latest data.

Since topping out in June 2006, home values in the metropolitan area have slid by more than 24 percent, according to the Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller Home Price Index, which tracks the price of single-family homes.

Over the past year, through the end of March, prices continued to drop, falling 3.4 percent as weakness reentered the market in the wake of the expiration of the homebuyers’ tax credit.

“New York is still one of the healthier markets in the nation,” commented Maureen Maitland, who tracks housing for Standard & Poor’s. “The market is fairly compact, and there’s not much overbuilding, so the homes have retained some of their value.”

Summer rental market has begun, so rents are climbing in Manhattan

Rents for Manhattan apartments rose an average of 0.68 percent in May, according to the latest report from MNS, formerly the Real Estate Group of New York (TREGNY).

For doorman units, the increase was

Weekly Roundup: Price indices are down, or up

Here’s your chance to catch up with news included to inform, enlighten and perhaps even entertain you. To read about The Big Apple, check out the other of today’s posts and look for Out and About, which I postponed to bloviate on pressing news, early next week.

Scraping up cash, convict’s brother puts his Long Island mansion on the market

He directs that his Los Angeles home be sold for $10.9 million

Case-Shiller has single-family house prices dropping to mid-2002 levels, a new  low since then

A Wall Street Journal writer puts the numbers in perspective

Monthly index of home prices increases 0.7 percent in April

30-year mortgage dips to new low of