Manhattan’s home market opened 2026 tight and pricey. The quarterly reports for the first quarter — from Douglas Elliman, prepared by the appraisal firm Miller Samuel, and from Corcoran — both show median sale prices up year-over-year and active listings at a five-year low for a first quarter, with apartments trading hands faster than at any point since 2018.

The numbers

The two benchmark reports, both published in early April 2026, agree on the shape of the quarter even where their exact figures diverge:

  • Prices up. The Elliman/Miller Samuel report put the combined condo and co-op median at $1.225 million, up 5.2% from a year earlier. Corcoran reported a $1.28 million median, up 9%, with price per square foot of $1,972.
  • Inventory scarce. Both pegged active Manhattan inventory around 6,000 units — described as a five-year low for a first quarter, down roughly 2% year-over-year.
  • Fast sales. Days on market fell to about 110, which both firms characterized as the fastest start to a year since 2018.
  • Volume firm. Corcoran counted 2,757 closed sales, up about 1%, for roughly $6.2 billion in total sales volume, up about 4%.

The two reports differ on the headline median because they segment the market and compute their figures differently — a routine discrepancy between the city’s competing benchmarks. The direction, though, is the same.

How to read these trackers

It is worth being precise about what these reports are, because Manhattan has several often-conflated instruments. The Elliman and Corcoran quarterly reports measure closed sales — deals that have settled — across the entire co-op and condo market. They are comprehensive but lagging: a sale that closed in Q1 2026 was typically negotiated months earlier, so the data reflects the market of late 2025 as much as early 2026.

That makes them different from Olshan Realty’s weekly luxury report, which counts signed contracts at $4 million and up — a narrow, forward-looking read on the top of the market. One is a broad, backward-looking benchmark of what actually closed; the other is a real-time pulse of high-end demand. Mixing them up is a common error in coverage of the New York market.

What’s driving it

The Q1 picture is fundamentally a supply story. With active listings at a multi-year low, even modest demand pushed prices up and cut the time it took to sell. Corcoran’s data underscored why supply is thin at the top of the funnel: new-development launches were sparse, with only about 81 new units brought to market in the quarter — roughly 75% below the 10-year average — as higher construction and financing costs kept developers on the sidelines.

Signed contracts, a leading indicator, were softer: Corcoran noted they fell about 11% year-over-year, a sign that the brisk closings reflected earlier deal-making and that buyers face fewer choices, not necessarily a surge of new demand.

The bigger picture

The resilience at the top end tracks with what brokers reported after the November 2025 election and into 2026: predictions of a “millionaire exodus” following Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s win did not show up in the data, and luxury contract activity held at or above the prior year. The Q1 reports extend that read to the broader resale market — prices firm, inventory scarce, deals quick — even as new construction stayed quiet.

For buyers, the takeaway from the first quarter was a familiar one: fewer apartments to choose from, and less time to decide.

Verification

Frequently Asked Questions

What do these quarterly reports actually measure?
They track closed sales of Manhattan co-ops and condos over a calendar quarter — median and average price, number of sales, active inventory and days on market. The Douglas Elliman reports are prepared by the appraisal firm Miller Samuel; Corcoran publishes its own. They measure deals that closed, which lag the market by months, so they are a backward-looking benchmark — distinct from weekly trackers like Olshan's luxury-contract count, which measure signed contracts in real time.
Why do Elliman and Corcoran report different median prices?
Both are reputable, but they segment the market and compute medians differently — for example, in how they blend condos and co-ops and which sales they include. For Q1 2026, the Elliman/Miller Samuel report put the combined median at $1.225 million; Corcoran reported $1.28 million. The direction (up year-over-year) is consistent; the exact figure depends on methodology.
What was the inventory situation?
Tight. Both reports put active Manhattan inventory at roughly 6,000 units in Q1 2026, which they described as a five-year low for a first quarter, down about 2% year-over-year. Homes sold in about 110 days, the fastest first-quarter pace since 2018.
Is this the same as the Olshan luxury report?
No. Olshan Realty's weekly report counts signed contracts at $4 million and above — a narrow, real-time read on the luxury tier. The Elliman and Corcoran quarterly reports cover closed sales across the whole co-op and condo market. They answer different questions and should not be conflated.