There were more sales of luxury condos and coops in the first quarter of this year than in any first quarter since the credit crunch of 2008, according to a Douglas Elliman report, adding that "the pending sales index - an aggregate of collected contract data presented in index form - indicated a 10.1 percent increase form the prior quarter although activity was 14.2 percent lower than the same period a year ago.

"Market share for new development sales slipped to 14.5 percent of all sales, down from 16.6 percent during the same period a year ago," the report said, noting "the primary price indicators declined over the past year reflecting the impact of the federal homebuyers tax credit." "Once the stimulus was removed, the second half of the year saw weaker overall conditions in comparison. Median sales price for the first quarter was $782,071, down 9.9 percent from the same period last year," the report said, adding that "the amount of active listing inventory is at its lowest level for a first quarter since 2007" with 7,605 listings "5.3 percent below the 8,027 listings in the same period last year."

"The supply of new developments is decreasing, as the lack of construction financing for developers means there are very few new properties coming online now. This is particularly true at the nigh-end of the market, where most luxury new developments are completely or nearly sold out. As a result, the new development sales that do occur are in low-priced properties, bringing the average down. Demand for condominiums is therefore shifting to the resale market, driving prices there higher," noted Pamela Liebman, chief executive officer of The Corcoran Group, which also issued its 1st Quarter report today.

Brown Harris Stevens reported that in the First Quarter 2011 the cooperative average sales price for a studio was $331,836, $582,669 for 1-bedroom, 1,210,817 for a 2-bedroom and $3,157,789 for a 3+bedroom. In the same period, it found that the condominium average sales price for studios was $517,980, $820,419 for 1-bedrooms, $1,631,454 for two-bedrooms, and $3,853,227 for 3+bedrooms.

Apartments in new developers sold for an average price of $1,143 per square foot in the first quarter, up 4 percent from the prior quarter, according to the Brown Harris Stevens report, and "loft prices average $1,098 per square foot, a 6 percent improvement from 2010's first quarter." Units, it continued, spent an average of 119 days on the market, unchanged for a year ago but up 5 percent from the prior quarter, and buyers paid 95.1 percent of the last asking price for apartments, down from 96.2 percent a year ago.

Diane M. Ramirez, president of Halstead Property, was quoted in an article by Vivian S. Toy in today's edition of The New York Times as dismissing "the notion of the market's taking a double dip." She said that "When you're comparing 2010 to 2011, you have to remember that we had a very unusual volume of business last year," noting that in addition to the tax credit, "there was enormous pent-up demand after a very tentative market in 2009" and "now, we're kind of back into a healthy and normal cycle."

The article noted that each report "showed some signs of weakness" and that the Halstead and Brown Harris Stevens reports were "the gloomiest, indicating that after six quarters of consistent growth, the average apartment price fell 5 percent, to $1.36 million, that that the number of sales this quarter, 1,769, was down 23 percent from the same time last year."