In the months following the September 2008 liquidation of Lehman Brothers, a dramatic decline in sales prices of homes alarmed residents throughout New York City. However, with the market’s apparent stabilization this summer, renters have been pondering the quintessential New York question: Is now the time to buy?

When the subprime crisis hit the national real estate market, New York City was largely unaffected. But the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 ended that almost overnightthough the cause had more to do with the resulting uncertainty about the economy than the foreclosures that damaged so many other communities.