Prices continue to go up in downtown — below 34th Street — as buyers flock to this area. According to The Corcoran Group report, median sales prices in new developments there are up 51% versus this time last year. For the first time in a decade in the fourth quarter of 2012, the average asking price in the downtown luxury market (the top 10% of co-op and condo transactions) overtook uptown and midtown. Luxury pads downtown hit an average of $2,777 per square foot during Q4 2012 while in uptown and midtown, similar units had an average asking price of $2,685. The downtown surge is partly a result of Manhattan’s  housing inventory declining 26% this year compared with the same period a year ago.

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