A greater number of developers building luxury apartments in Harlem are doing so without the help of government subsidies, evidence of a turning point in the uptown market, industry experts say.

“This signals a change in the nature of the market in Harlem,” said the head of research for the Real Estate Board of New York, Michael Slattery.

“It shows developers’ confidence that the market will uphold such investments,” said developer Matt Blesso, who is making his first foray into Harlem with a luxury loft building at 138 W. 124th St.

Driving demand for luxury apartments in Harlem is the high cost of real estate elsewhere in Manhattan, a plan by Columbia University to develop parts of the area, and a resurgence of retail on 125th Street, Mr. Slattery said. Transportation infrastructure is also a boon to the area, as is Harlem’s proximity to well-established high-density neighborhoods on the Upper West and Upper East Sides.

“I think it is fair to say that given all of the recent city investment in affordable housing, as well as broader trends such as declining crime rates, that privately financed development is increasing in Harlem,” said the spokeswoman for the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, Carol Abrams.

Ms. Abrams said the trend is “still a somewhat limited phenomenon.” Still, she added that, “From our perspective and what we’re hearing from developers, there is definitely more private market development happening.”

The luxury developments are targeting buyers who have been priced out of downtown Manhattan, artists or families looking for large spaces, and local Harlem residents with higher incomes.

Mr. Blesso’s development includes 30 lofts with Kohler fixtures and marble baths, and original architecture including terra cotta walls, Roebling arches, and barrel-vaulted ceilings. The units are expected to come on line in 2006, and Mr. Blesso hopes to charge a mini mum of $600 a square foot.

Like a growing number of high-end developers, he is not using low-income loans or tax breaks offered by the city and state to developers in return for including middle- or low-income units in their developments. Mr. Blesso and other developers are taking advantage of tax abatements common throughout Manhattan for new developments and not specific to Harlem.

“A lot of buildings were going up in Harlem that were small railroad flats with low-end finishes, and I felt that as the area became solidly middle class, a second wave of more affluent people would move in and demand more luxury,” said the president of Bridge Capital, Stanley Wolfson. Mr. Wolfson’s development at 257 West 117th St. is the first building in Harlem to sell an apartment for more than $1 million. The units were put on the market in March at a rate of $500 a square foot, and the price has since been raised to nearly $700 a square foot.

The units feature Brazilian cherry wood floors, stainless-steel appliances, and wood-burning fireplaces. The two bedroom units are 2,200 square feet in size, more than double the 800-squarefeet normally allocated a two-bedroom in Manhattan.

“The prices are justified by the size and the amenities,” said Tony Oakley of the Corcoran Group. Mr. Oakley has the exclusive on the building with his partner Lawrence Comroe.

“We had one buyer recently who is a partner at a major law firm with a wife and three kids. He bought a 2,400-square-foot three-bedroom for under $1.5 million, and would have spent $3 million to $5 million for the same thing on Central Park West,” Mr. Wolfson said. The 16-unit building is 60% sold, and Mr. Wolfson is working on another development on Third Avenue in Harlem that would bring a couple hundred more luxury condos to the market.

Another luxury development is rising at 2119 Fifth Ave. at 131st Street. RoseTree Development’s condominiums are nearly all sold and will be ready for occupancy in the fall. The units have sold for about $425 a square foot.

“We don’t do affordable housing, so by building here we are saying a market for luxury condos does exist,” said RoseTree’s vice president of finance, Roy Rosenbaum. The firm is developing three more high-end buildings in Harlem to be completed by late 2005, Mr. Rosenbaum added.

“We are ahead of the curve, looking not where the market is now, but where it is going to be in the next few years,” Mr. Blesso said. “Even one year ago, Harlem could only attract developers with city or state incentives and developers who would build fairly low-end products, but this is changing.”