Have the prices for sites suitable for development decreased over the past six months? Many developers feel that, especially in Manhattan and Brooklyn, they have declined by 10% to 20%, while many others have a different view.

“I have been finding that the cost of prime location sites have not adjusted at all, and that second tier sites have seen a small adjustment of 10% or so,” the president of Gladstein Development Group, Jane Gladstein, said.

“Across all boroughs, land in secondary and tertiary locations has lost between 5% to 20% of their values from the height of the market,” the chairman of Massey Knakal Realty Services, Robert Knakal, said. “Nevertheless, the prices for these sites are still 15% higher than the prices 12 months ago. Price perception is based on relativity.”

He added: “Land in prime locations — and I truly mean prime locations — has not lost value, but I feel that prices will drop even for this class of asset.”

“Land owners in Manhattan were hoping for pricing levels above what the market would bear at the beginning of the year,” a director at Eastern Consolidated Properties, Alan Miller, said. “However, they are still achieving record pricing for land parcels as they have become slightly more realistic with their expectations.”

“Flattening demand in condo prices — which drove the dramatic increase in land prices — increasing construction costs, tighter construction lending underwriting, and higher interest rates have made developers think long and hard about putting a shovel in a ground,” the chairman of the national real estate practice at the law firm Greenberg Traurig, Robert Ivanhoe, said.”Land is still so scarce that well located development sites with possession and zoning in place will get a price at pretty much the same level as when the peak occurred about a year ago.”

“Although there is some stabilization in the condominium market, prices for good sites have not really come down,” the president of Newmark Knight Frank, James Kuhn, said. “We have marketed and continue to market multiple sites everywhere from the High Line district to the West 50’s to Lower Manhattan. … The buyers pool actually is expanding. There is an increasing demand for high-end rental and we have found prices on the rise. Some developers have too much on their plate and may be looking for take a few chips off the table, but there are two buyers waiting for every one seller who wishes to liquefy.”

One prime location that has experienced a number of recent sales is West 57th Street. Last month, a site at 104 W. 57th St. consisting of a two-story building — it originally served as the home of a Horn & Hardart “automat” restaurant and most recently housed Shelly’s New York restaurant — and the adjoining six-story building at 108 W. 57th St. — was sold to Hilton Hotels for $63 million, or $558 a buildable foot. This sale was the second-highest price per buildable foot paid for an assemblage this year.

Earlier this year Macklowe Properties paid about $940 a developable foot for the former Drake Hotel on Park Avenue and East 56th Street.

“Many land sales are the result of buyers who have held development sites for a long time and for one reason or another now seek to cash out, knowing the market is not escalating precipitously at the moment,” Mr. Ivanhoe said. “Other sales are being made by developers who bought sites a few years ago and needed to obtain possession, land use approvals, or changes or complete other aspects of the development process before commencing construction. Some developers have opted to take their profit now, pay long-term capital gains tax, and let someone else take all of the development risk at a higher land basis.”

One such site is located on East 34th Street between Park and Madison avenues. This 100,000-square-foot site is being marketed for $35 million, or $350 a developable foot. The site is convenient to the Midtown campus of Stern and Touro College and can be developed as student housing.

This fall, the closing is scheduled for the sale of a site with 560,000 developable square feet at 400 Fifth Ave. at West 36th Street. The seller is a joint venture of Yitzchak Tessler and Lehman Brothers, which purchased the site last year from developer Joseph Chetrit for about $150 million.The site is being sold for about $225 million to an Italy-based real estate development company, Bi & Di Real Estate.

A number of residential developments are in various stages of development on Fifth Avenue. Belfonti Capital Partners is renovating the office building at 485 Fifth Ave. into luxury condominiums.

This fall, the first owners will move into the residential condominiums at 325 Fifth Ave. developed by Levine Builders and Continental Properties.

One block south,a mid-block development site at 309–311 Fifth Ave. between East 31st and East 32nd streets is on the market.The offering states that a developer can build a 141,000-square-foot residential tower.The property is expected to fetch about $375 a developable foot.

The owners of the four-story building at 241 Fifth Ave.between East 27th and East 28th streets have retained an investment broker to sell the site. They are asking $26.5 million. A developer could build a 19-story residential tower with 76 condominium units.

Massey Knakal Realty Services is marketing a development site at 158 Madison Ave. owned by Andrew Heiberger, of Buttonwood Real Estate. Buttonwood purchased the original site in 2005 for $11.37 million, or about $160 a developable foot. Since then, the company purchased air rights and other buildings, allowing a new developer to build an 85,000-square-foot condominium tower. The property is being offered for about $400 a developable foot.

In Lower Manhattan, a 9,800-squarefoot parcel at 169 William St., or 33 Beekman Street, is being marketed for sale.The site, which presently serves as a parking garage owned by Jack Resnick & Sons, can accommodate a mixed-use residential tower or hotel of approximately 138,000 square feet. Industry leaders expect the property to sell for close to $42 million,or $300 a developable square foot.

Later this month, an announcement is expected from New York Law School about the sale of its land site at its campus in TriBeCa. The site is expected to fetch close to $400 a developable square foot for a residential development.

Hotelier owner Richard Born, principal of BD Hotels, an active developer of residential properties, is marketing for sale his residential site at 508–512 W. 42nd St. Industry leaders expect the site to fetch close to $100 million, or about $330 a developable foot.

Sites throughout the city will continue to fetch record prices this year. One must remember that the cost of land is only one element in the development process. The record-high costs of construction and financing, coupled with loss factors for common areas, make development very expensive. In Manhattan, few developments are being built for which the cost per developable square foot is less than $1,000 a square foot.With rising interest rates and a slight softening in sales, developers and lenders are being cautious in their decision process.

Mr. Stoler is a television broadcaster and senior vice president at a title insurance company. He can be reached at mstoler@newyorkrealestatetv.com.