The Apartment Market: Manhattan Co-op Sales Catching Up to Those of Condos

July 29, 2014 — Wary of dealing with the co-op board approval process, and desiring to own their own real-estate rather than just shares in a cooperative, many apartment buyers opt for condominiums over co-ops. This has rendered co-op prices' generally lower than those of comparable condos. But according to the appraisal firm Miller Samuel, reports The Real Deal, co-ops are catching up: In Manhattan in this year's second quarter, co-ops on average spent 71 days on the market, down from 160 days during the same period of 2012. And the median price rose as well during that time, jumping 9 percent to $725,000. The condo median remains much higher, at $1.26 million.