For a time, all three sat in disrepair, and the only dealer in operation now is a custom one that caters to high-end buyers.

And the high-end buyer is back.

While some high-end buyers pay cash, more of them are taking loans, making down payments of $500,000 to $1 million.

That is because, according to brokers, the typical high-end buyers in the suburbs these days are two-income couples with young children.

It is possible that high-end buyers are just holding on to their properties right now, and those few who are buying are buying second homes at the Shore.

Virtually overnight, Manhattan's high-end buyers hit their pause buttons.

Ms. Whitman said the company was taking its "high-end buyers" - those who spend more than $250 - and marrying them to higher-end merchandise.

They planned to sell other lots to high-end buyers wanting the opportunity to spend time in the Rockies among the cultural elite.

Such thinking has influenced seemingly unlikely high-end buyers like Ms. Belford, the New York author.

As more high-end buyers have entered the rental market, the inventory of available apartments has started to shrink.