Apartment Watch Update

Mid July update on the apartments I have been watching:

• An apartment on State Street between Court and Boerum has seen its second price decrease since being listed, though this cut is only $4,000. It originally listed at $1,049,000, deflated to $999,000 and now sits at $995,000

• The Chelsea apartment I like saw a quick decrease of $15,0000 to $670,000, despite my opinion that the price was good. The location should trump the floorplan flaws. There is another open house Tuesday evening. Let's see if location (location, location) prevails.

• My favorite overpriced apartment on 157 Ludlow on the Lower East Side swapped out the original lead photo of a drab hallway for a more pleasant living room shot. I still say good luck getting $825,000. This apartment is also listed separately as a $3300 rental. Might have better luck with that.

Based on Corcoran's current batch of Newest Properties, I sense the market finally loosening up slightly. I see some Manhattan apartments losing their grip on that $1000 per sq ft barometer, even ones that don't have a devasting drawback, like an outrageous monthly maintenance fee or zero closets.