Buyers giving up MILLION DOLLAR Deposits in this REAL ESTATE COLLAPSE!

THE real estate market in Manhattan has become so unnerving to buyers that some are forfeiting six-figure deposits rather than close on deals they have made.

At 304 Spring Street, a sleek condominium building in SoHo with stunning Hudson River views, the buyer for the duplex penthouse recently decided he would not go through with the deal and walked away from a $780,000 deposit.

At 1120 Park Avenue, a classic prewar co-op filled with multimillion-dollar apartments, it appears that a buyer forfeited a deposit of as much as $1.1 million.
At 304 Spring Street last August, a buyer went into contract on a three-bedroom three-bath penthouse with three terraces, for $7.8 million. But when the market ground to a near-standstill in October, the buyer, a professional basketball player, backed out of the deal and gave up his deposit, said Richard Orenstein, an executive vice president at Halstead Property.

The penthouse, which first went on the market in October 2007 at $9.25 million, has since been appraised at $6.5 million, and its owner has decided to offer the property in a sealed-bid auction-like process in March, with a starting bid of $4.995 million.

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