Sule Aygoren Carranzais managing editor ofRealEstate Forum.

NEW YORK CITY-Despite all the talk of a slowdown, apartmentsales volume closed out 2007 with a bang--that is, on the surface,at least. A look deeper into year-end data from Real CapitalAnalytics Inc. proves that investors did indeed hold off on makingpurchases as the capital markets tightened up.

By the numbers, $36.4 billion in deals closed during the fourthquarter brought the year's total volume to a record $98.6billion--an 8% increase over 2006. However, a bulk of that Q4number is attributed to the $22-billion purchase of Archstone-Smithby Tishman Speyer Properties, Lehman Brothers and Bank of America,which closed in October.Taking that privatization out of theequation, fourth-quarter deal volume actually declined 60% over thesame period in 2006. Further, total 2007 sales would be nowherenear that of the prior two years.