A year ago, Manhattan homeowners lived within the firm grasp of the worst recession in 70 years. A skyrocketing real estate market seemed ready to come back to Earth, as carnage in the financial services industry – which spread to just about every other business – decimated incomes and net worths throughout the city.

From the second quarter to the third, this year, the sale of co-ops and apartments spiked between 46% and 69% according to several reports from the real estate business. Sales are still lower than last year, but the recovery has been nothing short of amazing (to the chagrin of those of us who had dreams of one day moving up from the rental class).

Prudential Douglas Elliman reported a price increase of almost 2% from the second quarter, though the median was down 8% to 18% from last year – to the $760,000 to $850,000 range. Jonathan Miller, president and CEO of Miller Samuel Inc., a real estate appraisal and consulting firm, calls this good news, but cautions that it doesn't mean we're at the bottom.

There was in increase in construction of single family homes in July, marking the fifth straight month for such an increase.

It should come as no surprise, after we learned yesterday that homebuilder confidence had rose to a new 12-month high. According to the commerce department, construction on new single family homes rose 2%, and permits for future construction jumped an impressive 6% during July.

Both the U.S. Commerce Department (new home sales, starts) and the National Association of Realtors (existing home sales) publish housing data, and it behooves investors, buyers and sellers to stay abreast of real estate developments, nationally, and regionally, via reports published by these organizations.

Then there are those other "metrics of significance" that further flesh-out real estate market conditions.

Apartment vacancies in the United States hit their highest level in 22 years in the second quarter of 2009. Job losses are to blame, according to Bloomberg, as tenant demand falls when people don't have any income. Vacancies rose to 7.5% from 6.1% year-over-year, according to Reis Inc. But this still doesn't reach the 1987 level of 7.6%. In June, the U.S. unemployment rate hit a 26-year high, with payrolls dropping faster than expectations.

Conventional wisdom has it that potential homebuyers turn into renters when the job market softens. The rental pool is shrinking, however, leading to the high rate of apartment vacancies as landlords struggle to fill units. Asking rents for apartments fell 0.6% last quarter (for the second in a row), according to Reis, the largest fall since the company started to track this measure in 1999. Overall, asking rents (including other types of residences) were off 0.7% year-over-year, down to an average of $1,040 a month.

As people lose their homes and become renters while foreclosed properties sit vacant waiting to work their way through the system, you might think this would be a golden age for rental properties.

It isn't. According to Reis Inc., a New York real-estate-research firm, the average vacancy rate for the top 79 US markets has reached 7.2%, a full percentage point higher than it was two quarters ago. Interestingly, vacancy rates were higher in the first quarter of 2004. Effective rents fell 1.1% in the first quarter. Reis believes rents could be down as much as 2% for the year and vacancy rates could top 8%.

A real estate play? In this market? Sure, if you can identify one with the right financial metrics. AvalonBay Communities is one.

AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE: AVB) is a real estate investment trust specializing in the ownership of multi-family apartment communities. AvalonBay owns about 150 apartment complexes containing more than 43,000 apartments in 10 states and Washington, DC. Most are branded under the Avalon name.

Analysts like the fact that AvalonBay is likely to outperform a majority of its sector peers. Analysts see AVB's rents increasing 3-5% in 2008, after a 5.5% average increase in 2007.

Further, performance in the relatively strong Northern California and Pacific Northwest markets is expected to offset poor operating conditions in Boston and Washington, D.C.