What’s the difference between a luxury condo and luxury rental in Manhattan? These days, barely anything. The average size of a 1-bedroom luxury rental in Manhattan is 600-675 square feet, while the average size of a 1-bedroom luxury condo in Manhattan is 700-800 square feet. The units in 8 Spruce Street in FiDi and Silver Towers in Midtown West are newly constructed luxury rentals that are indistinguishable from newly constructed luxury condos and subsequently attract wealthy buyers who would’ve only considered condos before; Silver Towers in particular was originally going to be a luxury condominium. This trend is no accident; the uncertain economy has made developers antsy about the future, leading them to adopt the strategy of designing luxury buildings in Manhattan that could convert easily from rentals to condos or vice versa. Consequently, these newly constructed luxury buildings have made the distinction between the two thinner than ever.

When Lehman Brothers went bankrupt in the fall of 2008, perhaps no neighborhood was more greatly affected than Harlem. The ill-timed flurry of construction in Harlem that preceded Lehman’s collapse left about a dozen new developments stranded, so to speak. In other words,  those new luxury condominiums either on the market or about to be on the market at that time suddenly had no buyers and a bleak future. So, almost overnight, the new construction revival in Harlem created a glut of luxury condos that no one wanted to live in. This unfortunate turn of events had defined Harlem real estate for the past few years, but it looks like the damage wrought by those events has finally abated: in the third quarter of this year 150 condos sold in Harlem, marking the fifth quarter in a row where condo sales in Harlem exceeded 100 units. Despite the odds, sales of new luxury condos now exceed pre-Lehman levels. Granted, this is due to greatly reduced inventory and an extreme shortage of quality inventory elsewhere in Manhattan, but this recovery is still impressive, and it spells good news the Manhattan luxury real estate market as a whole.

With a dearth of new construction, developers in Manhattan have shifted their tactics. 2011 has been the year of the condo conversion, and this wave of conversions seems likely to continue as long as financing for large projects remains difficult. In lieu of working with banks to loan them the large amounts of money required for new condo construction, developers are electing to simply convert rental buildings or office spaces instead. So far the tactic is working, although this strategy is heavily dependent upon the continuation of a healthy New York real estate market. If global financial insecurity or the recent woes of Wall Street begin to turn the current seller’s market into a buyer’s market, these converted condos might prove to be unwise investments.

The New York City luxury condo market is generally recognized as its own real-estate niche. Certainly, national real-estate market forecasts have repercussions on NYC's real-estate beat--but they're limited. So don't write off the Manhattan luxury condo market to broadcasted waves of statistics just yet. Yes, according to The Wall Street Journal the national housing inventory crashed into rocky lows this year; but refocusing the real-estate market lens to apartments for sale in Manhattan, the city has seen units going up, and several buildings being re-launched after bitter 2010 presales, according to The New York Post. Manhattan is proving yet again to be the exception to the rule.

The days of massive condos that were a staple of the boom period in New York City condo construction are over, at least for now. An extremely difficult loan market has forced developers to adjust their strategies and abandon earlier efforts to build condos with hundreds of units. The result is a sharp drop in size: according to data compiled by StreetEasy.com, new condo projects in 2005 and 2006 averaged 83 units per building, while so far in 2011 the average is 34 units. Additionally, StreetEasy.com reports that developers built 10 condos of 100 units and over in both 2005 and 2006, but this year there is only one such condo being built.

The crux of the problem is that the money just isn’t there. New York City’s overall real estate market may be healthy – at least in comparison to the rest of the country - but financing large projects is difficult at best. Extell Development Co. president Gary Barnett told the Wall Street Journal that, "It's extremely difficult to finance large condos. Rentals you can get done, you can get small projects done." The residential high rises that define many neighborhoods, such as Midtown Manhattan, have also tapered off severely for similar reasons. In the eyes of the banks the market demand for these kinds of buildings is simply not strong enough to justify their creation. Loans in the ranges of $25million – $75 million are now the norm, a far cry from loans of $500million+ needed to build larger projects.