After a record number of sales in the 4th quarter of 2012, fueled by many high-end buyers

rushing to close at the end of last year, the 1st quarter of 2013 experienced a drop in

sales over $5M.

Median sales price fell 5.1% to $740,000.

The overall number of sales jumped 20.9% to 347 from the year ago quarter

despite the lower number of high-end sales.

There were 1,437 listings at the end of the first quarter, 4.9% below year ago levels.

The monthly absorption rate, the number of months to sell all inventory at the current pace of sales, fell to 12.4 months from 15.8 months in the year ago quarter.

Days on market, the number of days from last price change to contract date,

expanded by 10 days to 187 from the same period last year.

Listing discount, the percent difference between the list price at time of contract

and the sales price, fell over the same period to 9.4% from 13.2%.

www.elliman.com/marketreports.