Recession has finally hit the Manhattan home prices – with the crumpling of Lehman Brothers Holdings and Bear Stearns taking its toll on the home owners in the country’s most pricey urban market!

According to Thursday reports by four leading New York brokers, the 2009 second quarter witnessed a fall in Manhattan apartment prices – marking their first-ever plunge since 2002.

The brokers said that with a 13-19 percent fall - vis-à-vis the first quarter median figures of a 2 percent loss to a 6 percent gain - the median prices of Manhattan apartments fell between $795,000 and $849,000.

In the opinion of Jonathan Miller, President of Miller Samuel, the fall in the Manhattan home prices has partly resulted from a swing towards increased sales for less than $1 million. Miller elaborated that out of the 1,532 deals closed in the second quarter, as many as 61 percent were for less than $1 million.

Commenting on the situation of the extensively falling home values, wherein co-operatives and condominiums of every size and price are seeing a decline, Pamela Liebman, CEO of New York-based property agent the Corcoran Group, said: “The standstill that existed after Lehman Brothers has been broken. The sellers who want to sell are reducing their prices. The ones that aren’t, are either sitting on them overpriced or waiting for another day!”