Normally, apartments are priced based on “comps”—similar sales nearby, adjusted for layout and condition. But now that we’re a year into the market slowdown, the data pool is big enough that the gurus at Streeteasy.com can go beyond that inexact science. They’ve isolated a list of individual apartments that sold at the peak (mostly in 2006 and 2007) and then again in the past few months. “It’s a true apples-to-apples comparison, assuming a property hasn’t changed considerably,” says appraiser Jonathan Miller. “The only variable is time.” Adds Noah Rosenblatt of Urbandigs.com: “It clears out the noise and gives you a pure look.”
The data are less dire than you’d think. Forty percent of the properties in the list showed rises in price, from 3 to 20 percent. But some of those turn out to be the ends of a wild ride: a steep increase in ’06 and ’07, followed by a comparable drop. Here’s a selection.
| The Property | Sold For | Resold For | Loss/Gain | Expert Opinion |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 166 Duane Street, No. 8AA 2,241-square-foot three-bedroom, three-bath prewar loft with views from every window. |
$4.7 million June 2008 |
$4.25 million December 2008 |
-9.6% | "The market was already trending down when it went on sale," says Rosenblatt. "It looks like this seller got lucky. It's hard to sell these high-end products. Many properties like these are still waiting for buyers." |
 81 Irving Place, No. 2ABHA 1,600-square-foot Gramercy Park three-bedroom, three-bath with a terrace. |
$1.88 million June 2006 |
$1.919 million December 2008 |
+2.07% | "The sellers did okay," says Miller. "They probably did a little bit better than most. You could’ve expected it to be slightly underwater." |
 444 Central Park West, No. 11HA two-bedroom, two-bath, 1,400-square- foot co-op with a library in an Art Deco building. |
$1.1 million July 2006 |
$1.565 million August 2007 and then $1.1 million December 2008 |
-29.71% | The property tells the story of the market’s rise and fall, says Miller, who thinks we’re settling in near 2005 levels. "The rise in between is essentially wiped clean." |
 201 East 80th Street, No. 11DA two-bedroom, two-and-a- half-bath in a full-service condo. |
$1.723 million August 2007 |
$1.45 million December 2008 |
-15.84% | "Likely what happened is that it increased by another 5 percent, and then dropped 20 percent," says Miller. |
 59 Pineapple Street, No. 2BCA 1,113- square-foot two-bedroom, two-bath co-op in Brooklyn Heights. |
$775,000 January 2007 |
$850,000 January 2009 |
+9.6% | A puzzler. Either the 2007 buyer caught a bargain, or he got lucky when he sold it two years later. Or "it could have been extensively renovated," says Miller. "It’s not representative of what’s happening." |
 1 Fifth Avenue, No. 14K A one-bedroom, one-bath in a full-service co-op across from Washington Square Park. |
$725,000 April 2007 |
$715,000 December 2008 |
-1.38% | The recent sales figure seems like not-so-bad news, says Miller. "I would’ve expected a bigger decline." |
 333 West 22nd Street, No. 1BA prewar two- bedroom, one- bath with a wood-burning fireplace, renovated kitchen and access to the garden. |
$932,000 December 2007 |
$750,000 November 2008 |
-19.53% | "This really reflects the full drop of the market," says Miller. Adds Rosenblatt: "It proves how the market had a fierce adjustment after Lehman went down and the rescue of AIG. We were getting hammered." |
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