It's sometimes said that Manhattan luxury condominiums sell themselves, and a trip through our Manhattan condo listings will surely bear that out for a few NYC apartment buildings. But it's just an expression, finally, and most NYC luxury condos -- even the best of the best -- don't necessarily sell themselves. Yes, the , but with real estate watchers concerned about a double dip in the housing market and the local and national economies still sputtering, the investment of money and confidence required in buying a Manhattan condominium is no small thing. In reality, most NYC condos require no small amount of selling, which is , among other things. Recently, developers have hit upon a new -- and, for once, very factual and very useful -- new marketing tool. That would be the approval of the Federal Housing Administration.

Has it really been almost a month since we last reported on the stupendous ongoing boom in the market for Manhattan condominiums? Well, yes, almost a month ago, but it's not like we haven't talked about it since. We've talked about and the , among other things, but we've always really been talking about one thing: the stupendous ongoing boom in the market for Manhattan condominiums. Today, we would like to talk about...

Those who read the New Construction Manhattan blog with any regularity are familiar with the fact that the market for NYC condos is in the midst of what appears to be after some rough years. Really, anyone who reads about NYC real estate anywhere is probably aware of this -- those years were pretty rough, the rally is pretty impressive, and most everyone who has anything to do with Manhattan apartment sales is happier than they've been in years.

We've previously written about Tribeca Summit, one of the more promising luxury condo listings in Tribeca, here at the New Construction Manhattan blog. We've written about Tribeca Summit both because it's one of the more striking pre-war condominium listings in Tribeca and because it is an exceptionally good source of blog copy -- from to , Tribeca Summit is an interesting building that has the misfortune, as the Yiddish curse goes, to live in interesting times. But while condos continue to sell at Tribeca Summit, its continued willingness/need to reduce prices on its apartments for sale has made it a frequent subject of analysis. Add it all up, as Sandy Mattingly does at his blog Realtown, and you've got a portrait of a very appealing Manhattan condominium listing with some very .

We're in the "writing about Manhattan apartments" business here at the New Construction Manhattan blog, not in the "looking gift horses in the mouth" business. So while we've covered the and for new construction condominiums over luxury co-ops, we haven't really puzzled over the how's and why's of this particular state of affairs. The second quarter NYC apartment sales stats tell us that we're , so let's party -- or at least search Manhattan apartment listings -- right?

It's big news, of course, but the ongoing recovery in the market for Manhattan luxury condos is not exactly news at this point. But what started as a series of anecdotal incidences -- near-ubiquitous price chops replaced by at buildings like The Apthorp; the consumer confidence reflected in the preference for ; the -- has recently become something a lot more measurable. Between the increasingly rapid absorption rate of Manhattan condo listings and the in high-end luxury condo listings, though, the bounce-back in Manhattan real estate is increasingly tough to miss. In that sense, the surge in Manhattan apartment sales in the second quarter reported by the Wall Street Journal's Josh Barbanel isn't exactly a surprise. But the scale of that surge, on the other hand, is both big news and good news. More and more, the recovery in NYC real estate is looking official. "A Wall Street Journal review of closed-sales filings with New York City Department of Finance shows that during the second quarter, which ends June 30, sales were running 80% above the pace reported a year ago," Barbanel writes.

Dogs: they're pretty great. So let it never be said that the New Construction Manhattan blog is afraid to take tough stances on the big issues. But as much as we at NCM love dogs -- skateboarding dogs are maybe extra good, but they're all pretty all right in our book -- we know well that Manhattan real estate is not always a pet-friendly zone. While we make a point to make note of pet-friendly condominiums in our Manhattan apartment listings, the fact remains that it can sometimes be difficult to get a dog past a fussy Manhattan co-op board. Given that no one wants to make the choice between the dog they love and the Manhattan apartment of their dreams, it's really the least we can do to offer you, the New Construction Manhattan Reader, a brief guide to getting your dog past a Manhattan co-op board.

According to an article in Wednesday's New York Times, three-bedroom Manhattan apartments and four-bedroom apartments are all the rage amongst families. It makes arithmetical sense, of course -- more kids, more bedrooms, Q.E.D. -- but the boom in sales of three- and four-bedroom Manhattan apartments indicates that a demographic that traditionally hightails it to the suburbs might be opting for Manhattan condos instead. Despite the fact that new condominium sales have been comparatively flat over the past year, sales of three-bedroom and four-bedroom Manhattan apartments have drastically increased -- whether it's because families are looking for more space for their children, space for guest bedrooms, or a tricked-out media room varies from case to case, of course. But clearly there's something going on here.

We at New Construction Manhattan have had our collective eye -- we just share one, it's more convenient -- on Upper West Side luxury condo Linden 78 since it was first announced back in 2009. There's a lot to like, after all: top-tier new construction finishes and amenities share space with elegant condos that have spacious dimensions and soaring ceilings that are more-or-less pre-war in their graciousness. But while Linden 78 inarguably rates among the most interesting new condo listings on the Upper West Side, it has spent the last six months as just that: a listing. Calls to Linden 78's sales office weren't answered, and the building was wrapped up in . Now, finally, comes some good news: the phones are being picked up at Linden 78's sales office, and indications are that Linden 78 could begin sales within the next month. This is good news for a number of reasons.