As you already know if you follow Manhattan real estate or read this blog, the market for luxury condos in New York City has recovered almost completely from the crash of 2008. 2011 was a pretty good year for real estate in Manhattan. Condos sales had a banner year in Upper Manhattan and Harlem, and the market more or less avoided the usual slump that’s expected with the early winter months. To ring in the new year, the Real Deal polled a group of real estate experts and industry insiders to get their predictions on how the market would play out in 2012. What they said wasn’t particularly surprising; most of them agreed that this year would see a continuation of last year’s trends. But, good news for all, they provide an overall positive view of the market for luxury condos in Manhattan.

Of all the ridiculous ideas that precipitated what people are apparently calling The Great Recession, junk mortgages -- "subprime" is somehow too kind a word, here -- have to rank among the worst. Real estate in general, and New York apartments and condominiums in particular, have long ranked among the smartest and safest investments out there, but the rise and sad popularity of junk mortgages such as "interest-only" mortgages during the real estate boom did much to unmake that. Sure, the right NYC condo is still a terrific investment, but the market in general was damaged seriously by all the homes and apartments (generally not in New York City, of course) that were sold to people via frankly crappy means such as interest-only mortgages.