When residential real estate brokerage company NRT purchased New York-based The Corcoran Group in September 2001, the housing market was in the midst of the longest real estate boom in history. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the New York Times reported that the purchase price of the residential brokerage firm might have been in the $70 million range. Five years later, the real estate cycle is headed south and Corcoran as well as many brokerage firms around the country are feeling the pain. The mighty Manhattan residential real estate market has even tumbled. The average sales price for a Manhattan apartment fell 10% to a gaudy $1.087 million in the third quarter, according to Halstead Property. Buyers are also being more selective as the number of days a New York apartment is on the market has jumped to 150 days in the third quarter from 133 days in the same year-ago period. With the addition of more condos and co-ops to enter the city's market and the stagnation of wages, real estate experts expect the Big Apple's residential market to continue to slide. Meanwhile, Barbara Corcoran, who created Corcoran with $1000 in 1973, has a new career creating television programming. And if she had to create a movie based on her rags-to-riches story, it should be aptly titled "Sell High" ... — Gerald Magpily
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