Paul Krugman is Moving on Up

Paul Krugman – winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, Princeton University professor and New York Times columnist – is taking advantage of falling home prices in a difficult market.  Krugman and his wife, economist Robin Wells, recently paid $1.7 million for a three-bedroom co-op apartment in a pre-war building on Manhattan’s upscale Riverside Drive.  The apartment had been on the market for more than one year and had an original asking price of $2.495 million, according to StreetEasy.com, a property listing service.

According to Krugman, “We really wanted a place that has the ultimate New York luxury, which is a washer and a dryer.  I do expect New York prices will fall some more, but we need a place.  And I came into some money.”  Krugman’s Nobel Prize included a $1.4 million cash award.  The six-room apartment has nine-foot ceilings, offers “romantic cityscapes” and has a monthly maintenance fee of $1,820.  Krugman’s long-time one-bedroom apartment on West 89^th Street is under currently contract for a bargain $599,000.  Additionally, the Krugmans own a house in Princeton, NJ.

Median Manhattan home prices fell 18.5 percent to $835,700 from a year earlier, according to appraiser Miller Samuel, Inc., and broker Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate.  The number of sales is half of the 2008 number.

Krugman’s purchase comes at a time when the housing market appears to be stabilizing.  Existing home sales rose 3.8 percent in the second quarter to a seasonally adjusted rate of 4.76 million over the first quarter, according to National Realtor Association statistics.