It was a happy holiday season for Manhattan’s housing market, as average prices for home sales were 8 percent higher in the last quarter of 2010 than during the same period for 2009 — the latest evidence of the city’s economic rebound and a strong demand for housing, new surveys found.

The average Manhattan apartment sold for $1,432,787, according to Brown Harris Stevens Residential Sales. That 8 percent rise follows a 12 percent boost in the third quarter of 2010, compared to 2009, and a 9 percent rise in the second quarter.

In fact, 2010 ended with the sixth straight quarter in which the average sales price went up.

“It’s a constant crawling out since the middle of 2009, when things really bottomed,” said Greg Heym, chief economist of Terra Holdings, the parent company of Brown Harris Stevens and Halstead Property.

The co-op market is particularly hot because more people want two-bedroom and larger homes, he said.

The average Manhattan co-op cost $1,158,333, a whopping increase of 17 percent compared with the last quarter of 2009.

Sales of two-bedroom and larger homes accounted for 45 percent of co-op sales, up from 40 percent last year.

“People are feeling confident again about their jobs, security, the stock market. All that plays into their thinking,” said Heym.

Condominium prices rose only slightly, according to real-estate experts. But the demand for luxury apartments and lofts is pushing prices sharply higher.

The average price of the 10 percent costliest co-ops and condos jumped 15.1 percent, to $4,350,000, compared with the same quarter of 2009, according to Prudential Douglas Elliman’s Manhattan market report.

Lofts accounted for 7.4 percent of all apartment sales in the final three months of 2010 — and the average co-op and condo loft sold for $1,563,013, a boost of 11.6 percent, the report stated.