An Orlando Business Journal article recently compared single family home sales to condo sales in the Greater Florida area. While sales in single family homes declined 14% in July 2010 (compared with 2009), this year's Florida condominium sales rose a significant 11% statewide compared to the same time period last year.

Total condo units sold rose to 5,557 from last year's 4,991 per the Orlando Business Journal article. In highly desirable Metro areas like Orlando, condo sales rose an incredible 59% from 475 units sold to a whopping 754. The sales price saw a corresponding increase of 5.6% demonstrating clear consumer interest in hot condo markets such as Orlando, Florida.

After six years of planning and construction, the 41-story Century City Condominium Tower is ready. A Los Angeles Times article highlights the prestigious structure already slated to be occupied by Candy Spelling, who is reported to have purchased the top two floors for approximately $47 million.

The LA Times article quotes the cost of building the condo tower at $300 million. The price of units has been discounted as a result of the real estate market downturn over the last 2 years. Now that the tower has been completed and is ready for showing, prospective buyers can tour actual units.

The San Francisco Chronicle have offered some analysis, and confirmation, that the San Francisco condo market is among those that are improving. They state that 247 "resale" condos were sold in the first quarter 2010 which represented a 127% increase over last year. This is impressive.

Additionally, 183 new condos closed in San Francisco although the median sales figures were somewhat skewed by a number of higher-end luxury condo sales.

The end result is that buyers and sellers are coming to terms with many sellers adopting more realistic price expectations. San Francisco is a gorgeous city. Currently ranked as America's 12th most populated metro.

It appears the general consensus is that New York City is moving into swing again as are Manhattan condo sales. CNNMoney report that Manhattan is still the number one condo market in the United States in both volume of units sold and median sales price. CNNMoney lists the average condo sales price in several hot markets. Average prices being:

• Manhattan $1,200,000
• San Francisco $400,000
• Los Angeles $250,000

Bear in mind that these are just average sales prices and do not represent the upper end luxury condo market. That being said, Manhattan's average price of 1.2 million is quite an eye opener.

CEO of Corcoran, Pam Liebman, is quoted by CNNMoney as saying that many of the more experienced condo shoppers in New York City are foregoing mortgages entirely with at least half of buyers paying in cash. Employment figures on Wall Street are rebounding ...

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Money recently reported that median condo prices are stabilizing in a number of cities. After a nationwide decline in condo prices of 20% or more, March 2010 sales were up approximately 40% over the same time period last year.

Supporting a new wave of condo activity are low mortgage interest rates and an abundance of high quality condo units in the market. Buyers fortunately have many options.

Qualified buyers have somewhat less competition than usual since government backed loans presently have stricter loan eligibility criteria. Many realtors believe the condo market is finally at a bottom and that buyers are in a unique position to secure luxury properties at a considerable discount.

Despite lingering questions over employment and stock market stability, buyers are coming back into the real estate market and they have their eye on condos.

Manhattan and Miami in particular had outstanding months in May and June compared to the same months in 2009.

CNNMoney reported that Manhattan transactions were up 81% with over 2700 units being sold in the last quarter ending June 2010. Greg Heym, a housing market economist, completed a recent market report for Brown Harris Stevens and Halstead which indicated the Manhattan market is stabilizing. The CNNMoney article cited similar studies from the Corcoran Group and Prudential Douglas Elliman which further supported this finding.

Another news piece points to a Miami rebound in condo sales with a 70% increase in May compared to the same month one year ago. The article reports that Miami condo prices rose 2.2% in May. The Herald Tribune reported that ...

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