GRAMERCY PARK and MURRAY HILL

THE BASICS: If you have a key to Gramercy Park, it’s heaven. Otherwise, content yourself with access to midtown, the Park Avenue South restaurant scene, and stable values. Singles and professional couples gravitate to the medium-size co-ops in both pre- and postwar flavors, while the wealthy buy (and hold) the brownstones. “A lot of people are combining apartments, too,” says Greenthal broker Mary Nealie, noting that the shortage of larger places remains particularly acute.

WHAT’S NEW: Several as-yet-unfinished rental towers on 34th Street are likely to continue the area’s shift to younger residents. The retail strip along Third Avenue is also growing peppier, as bad delis have given way to a passable bar scene.

BARGAIN HUNTING: Prices drop east of Third Avenue, especially as the noise and traffic of the Midtown Tunnel become a factor. (The big eighties towers over by the East River are an expensive exception.) In Gramercy, prices fall as soon as you get away from the golden key, especially to the north (look around 28th Street).

HOT SPOTS: Park Avenue South’s restaurant row keeps creeping northward, and now tops out at Artisanal, Terrance Brennan’s cheese mecca at 32nd Street. Gramercy Tavern, on 20th Street, continues to thrill the food elite, and the Old Town bar on 18th remains a beloved pub.

PREDICTION: Prices have held since last year’s mild drops, and here and there, they’re rising. (“Gramercy—God bless,” says J.D. Ross Realty’s Ruth Goldsmith.) Count on more of the same: These neighborhoods don’t lead the booms, but they don’t lead the busts either.

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