Weekly Roundup: Renters, new market stats, dropping loan rates, foreclosure purchase risks, credit misconceptions, kitchen trends, and more

Renters don’t stay put for long in the financial district

New York magazine explores world of platonic urban cohabitation i.e. roommates

Housing signals mixed in metro region

Four things to bear in mind when buying an apartment for your kids

19 percent more building permits issued in 2012 than in prior year

Committee ranks Upper East Side tops for kids, Bay Ridge beats all other Brooklyn neighborhoods

Request for proposals to redevelop Lower East Side sites signals end of bitter renewal squabbling

Foreclosures in region higher in December than a year earlier

Estate in the Hollywood Hills finds friendly buyer but at greatly reduced price

Legendary rocker

Weekly Roundup: Early spring, Borgnine mansion, slumping inventory, Case-Shiller attack, DIY tips, increasingly confident Americans, builders’ mood

Governor signs renewal of tax abatement into law

Construction permits take off from 2007 level

Market reveals early spring as pace of pending sales below $5 million is fastest in 12 years

And jump recorded in development activity of multi-family buildings in Brooklyn

Although nothing new, garbage disposals prove to be worthy of boasts

Cuomo seeking to buy out homeowners to remake coastline

Concessions dwindling for buyers of new condos

Will rents take off again?  Maybe: Low inventory continue to push up rents of studios, 2BR apartments last month

Region’s housing prices up 8.5 percent from prior December

Big uptick in supply seems unlikely

Her Greenwich Village duplex is coming around again

Late-night newswoman decamps to $5 million

Weekly Roundup: Beresford auction, Brooklyn’s Manhattanization, latest market stats, celeb moves, same old loan limits, staging errors

Question facing downtown is whether hurricane stigma short-term phenomenon

Value of views depends on what you see and from what height

Mitchell-Lama program originally aimed to help ‘blighted’ neighborhoods

It is possible to double-check suspicious prices in city’s property records

Foreclosure auction scheduled for Beresford co-op listed for $7.35 million

Residential buildings largely account for 17 percent growth of stalled construction

Price data show ‘Manhattanization’ of condos in hot Brooklyn neighborhoods

Banks hesitant to offer financing for co-ops in buildings with only five or 10 units

Stuyvesant Town tenants reach $68 million settlement with controlling company

Pop queen’s Central Park West duplex is listed for $23.5 million

Actor in search of buyer for Chelsea penthouse

Weekly Roundup: Starters hot, U.S. prices rise, rates tick up, foreclosures drop, Houston’s cool

Weekly Roundup returns after Labor Day, but. . .

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Wells Fargo provides mortgages to one-fifth of the city’s borrowers

July sales of starter apartments grow 30.5 percent over previous year

Sales of new Manhattan condos up in second quarter, but median price sinks

Lesbian couple get both names on lease after months-long battle, threatened lawsuit

Report suggests property tax evasion widespread

Swimmer whose name rhymes with ‘hike’ selling Baltimore condo

Singing couple proves that money talks with their $400,000 Hamptons rental

Actress orders purchase of Upper West Side townhouse for $10.7 million

Grammy winner’s condo on the Bowery finds buyer after 5 percent markdown

Late pop artist’s lofty domain goes on the market in SoHo

One of late heiress’ Fifth Avenue apartments is under contract — again

Case-Shiller records significant price gains from year ago

Strength of apartment sector

Weekly Roundup: Killing rents, Rat Island langor, celebrity doings, strong resales, shrinking inventory, negotiation advice, Home Depot vs. Ikea, shared households, lots of guessing. More!

Townhouse sales on upswing

Divided board okays 2 percent increase for rent-stabilized units, 4 percent if for 2-year lease

There’s a right way to approach board members with complaints

It’s still mainly doormen, not doorwomen

Apartments selling faster than a year ago

State to spend $60 million on legal services, counseling for homeowners

For delinquent condo residents, the white gloves are off

29 percent of residents spend more than half of their income on rent

Winner of Rat Island auction off City Island in the Bronx settles in

Court rules that rent-controlled apartment can’t be distributed in divorce

Singer is gambling on absolute auction for sale of estate previously listed for $3.5 million

Performance artist

Out and About: How the other half (1%?) lives

One kitchen among several like it in Tribeca on a tour of "luxe" properties.

In a word, the other half lives very well.  Very, very well.

Invited with others to take a brokers’ tour of “luxe” properties in Tribeca and SoHo, I couldn’t resist having a look at them and posting photographs of some of them.

Master bedroom plus terrace in one loft.

They were priced for as little as $12.95 million to — get this — $45 million, and I have to say that they pretty much measured up to my expectations for lavish, stylish and spacious places to live.  They should!

I confess with more than a touch of envy that perhaps such lofts also enable their owners to lord it over those whose abodes cost them a mere few millions — “envy” being key. 

Weekly Roundup: Rents, rates, remodeling, more

Update: Prices, sales of new condos post healthy year-over-year increases in Manhattan

Demand for ultraluxury apartments outpaces modest units

Report finds 7.2 percent rise in January rents from a year earlier in Manhattan

No ceiling in sight for rentals, the Times declares

But a City Journal editor begs — make that demands — to differ

As appraisal executive says it’s the editor who’s wrong

Only on a mere few days can

Weekly Roundup: Supply slips, optimism grows

What is it worth to you to get high?

Foreclosures cast a lengthening shadow over state’s housing market

Sales up, prices down in the Hamptons

Resurgence of interest in lower-priced properties may signal suburbs’ recovery

Sales of apartment buildings in 2011 exceeds 2010 by 33 percent

Developers’ eyes to drift increasingly from Manhattan to Brooklyn in search of more space

Q4 prices, supply fall in Brooklyn from 2010 level as sales and days on market grow

Institutional buildings converted to condos bow to market forces

He sees many fewer millions than originally in the sale of his Tribeca penthouse

Felonious former football star faces foreclosure on Dade county home

She sells SoHo apartment not so suddenly

Village townhouse bought by Malcolm Forbes finally finds buyer

Singer takes a bath in Hawaii

Housing inventory

Weekly Roundup: Rents peak, rates hit new low

Q4 prices for homes in the outer boroughs held up better than they did in Manhattan

Of 6 neighborhoods celebrated by the Historic District Council, 1 is in Manhattan

Foreclosure filings grew 28 percent from 2010 to 2011, but foreclosures dropped to 7-year low

State investigating whether big banks fraudulently steer borrowers to expensive insurance

Reaching median of $3,145 monthly, rents in Q4 up to 2006 level

Consumers should weigh impact of maintenance fees and common charges

Tiger’s former wife bugged by $12 million mansion, so it’s gone

He bonds with $11.5 million SoHo penthouse

Who wants to be a m– mansion seller?

Cooper purchases $1.7 million property next door to his Hamptons retreat

Rosy index of ‘improving’ markets somehow posts

Weekly Roundup: Manhattan market improves, pending U.S. sales surge, rates still low, more

Take your pick of predictions of the Big Apple’s housing market

NYU says property values approach peak in Manhattan, only borough where prices higher than the last year

Couch potatoes would do well to avoid some buildings

Foreclosures in October decline for fifth consecutive month

Number of Manhattan condo sales barely budges over one month or a year

Tribeca and SoHo most expensive neighborhoods in Q3

Developers target sales commissions for themselves

New program helps buyers of foreclosed homes

Seven signs that it’s time to jettison your broker

Strong rental market generally stable in November

Dominated by residential construction, number of stalled sites shrinks

November sales in Manhattan rise above October but not two prior years, supply dips

Perhaps the stars will shine through clear skies on this $5.5 million listing

Price cut on actor’s home ranks among the big shockers

One of the Vikings conquers