Out and About: Bad karma exacts heavy price

Another unit in the same line of a Murray Hill condo that has been stigmatized by suicide.

The one-bedroom condo in Murray Hill was originally listed last August for $699,000.  Monthly common charges are $525 and real estate taxes $397.

The asking price was cut, pointlessly, to $690,000 in October and then two weeks later, to $679,000.

In early December, the apartment was taken off the market and now is back.

Before I bring you up to date on the reason for the gap,

Plenty of inventory, but how much is tempting?

No need to rush if you're looking for higher-end properties.

Appraisal executive Jonathan Miller of Miller Samuel prepared the charts above to show how long it will take at the current sales pace to run through the supply of apartments that existed at the end of February.

Assuming that a low absorption rate equates to relatively high sales activity, my takeaway is this:

Sales at lower end outgrow rise in inventory

The lower price strata of the Manhattan market is doing better than the upper end, primarily because of the divergence between jumbo and conforming mortgage underwriting requirements, reports Jonathan Miller of the Miller-Samuel appraisal firm.

Absorption (the percentage of inventory that is sold) has been better in the sub-million price strata than above $1 million over the past year, he says.  The graphs below say it all: