A look back at our blog posts over the past few months will reveal that one luxury condominium in particular has been popping up more than the others. The building in question is, of course, 15 Central Park West, the magnificent, limestone building designed by Robert A. M. Stern that has gained a very worthy reputation in Manhattan’s real estate market. While every apartment in this complex is by itself an amazing home, renovations and redesigns of the same have led to even more striking homes, with price tags that match the astounding glamour of these luxury homes.

There are some lucky New Yorkers who wake up every morning with the feeling of being on top of the world—literally. These are the residents of the amazingly high apartments in several luxury residential buildings around the city who are guaranteed both stunning views and amazing lifestyles. While Manhattan has always been known for its ridiculously tall skyscrapers, the city’s high-rises have become much more prolific now thanks to the fact that these buildings are now offering homes to live in. A case in point would be the historic Woolworth Building in Lower Manhattan, which has traditionally hosted office spaces on its top floors but will now soon be offering luxury homes in those enviable spaces.

Buying Manhattan property has never looked so appealing. As rents in the city soar to record heights, the price gap that separates renting and buying an apartment is currently the smallest it’s been since 2006. And with Manhattan still exhibiting the highest cost of buying relative to renting in the United States, the fact that renting apartments is falling in popularity is truly saying a lot. Yet for many residents, buying property with a mortgage is beginning to seem immensely preferable to paying ever-increasing rents. While residents are showing more and more distaste for continuing to rent property, there’s an increasing willingness to bite the bullet and buy a condo or co-op.

It's a real estate rule of thumb: during economic recessions, co-op apartments are generally more popular than luxury condominium listings. The ostensible reasoning is that co-ops -- which demand more money down and involve what is often a painfully rigorous screening process -- are less volatile than condos. That is the rule of thumb, anyway. But a new report in The Wall Street Journal thumbs its nose at that particular rule of thumb by pointing out that, during the recent/ongoing recession, the market for NYC condos has been notably stronger than that for Manhattan co-ops. While this was especially true for luxury condo listings at the higher end of the condo price spectrum, it's more or less true for all Manhattan condominium listings. The big question, of course, is why.