All-cash dream can become all-consuming nightmare
Narrowest house, where Edna St. Vincent Millay lived, finds buyer at last
Rent board approves maximum increases roughly double last year’s for stabilized apartments
Finding Hollywood home addresses of celebrities fast and easy
Grammy-winning saxophonist tries again to sell UWS townhouse, this time for $12 million
Comedic former TV talker sells Miami hacienda way below original ask of $20 million
Manhattan rents gain substantially over year ago, two reports show, but Brooklyn’s median drops
Another report details continued upward march of rents in Manhattan and Brooklyn
Mayor outlines $20 billion storm protection plan one day after FEMA releases new flood maps
Then Bloomberg proposes major change in building code to enforce additional safeguards
Skyscraper wars dominate new developments
O’, the heartbreak of broken relationships among leaseholding couples
Borrowers rarely can utilize VA loan program in NYC
Outdoor flea, food market begins in Long Island City
He aces sale of of beachfront Malibu home for Continue reading
Luxury market boosts second quarter sales, prices
After a slight drop in prices at the beginning of the year, the Manhattan real estate market has stabilized in the last three months, with prices rising slightly and sales volume increasing with an expected spring surge in home buying.
Today’s second-quarter sales reports released by the city’s largest brokerage firms show that the increase in the average sale price was largely attributable to more robust sales of larger and more expensive apartments, while studio and one-bedroom sales lagged slightly.
Still, with question marks on employment and the limited availability of credit to homebuyers, there were few predictions of a major upturn in the Manhattan market.
The big sore spot in the market was the median sales price of new developments, which plunged 15.7 percent from last quarter and 19 percent from the year before, to $1.13 million.
Appraisal executive Jonathan Miller said the result was consistent the average sale in a new development being approximately 15 percent smaller in physical size than previous quarters. Because the smaller units require buyers to borrow less and have price points that qualify for special loans, they dominated the market, according to Miller.
Not a strong trend, but buyers are plunking down deposits based only on floor plans in new buildings
When the real estate market was booming, buyers routinely signed contracts for apartments in yet-to-be-built buildings, making their decisions based on little more than an artist’s rendering and a miniature model of their new home.
That changed once the market crashed, the New York Times observes.
Off-site showrooms disappeared, and buyers became deeply skeptical about floor plans and fancy brochures. Developers realized that buyers would no longer buy a home without first running a hand along a kitchen counter and standing by a window to take in the views.
In recent months, though, Continue reading
Here’s your chance to catch up with news included to inform, enlighten and perhaps even entertain you. To read about The Big Apple, check out the other of today’s posts and look for Out and About early next week.
Author didn’t sleep there, but Long Island mansion slated for destruction evokes his memory
Investors, not first-time buyers, have propelled the housing market since July
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) says it will pump up its activities to combat housing discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals and families (LGBT).
New guidance treats gender identity discrimination most often faced by transgender persons as gender discrimination under the Fair Housing Act and instructs HUD staff to inform individuals filing complaints about state and local agencies that have LGBT-inclusive discrimination laws. Continue reading
This graph from CalculatedRiskBlog.com says it all.
Do you want the good news or the bad news first?
The good news is that reduced confidence leads to reduced inventory, and Lord Keynes was right about the correlation between supply and demand.
Additional good news comes from HUD, which documents promising increases in housing starts and permit issuance.
The bad news is that decreased building means fewer jobs and a sluggish economic recovery. Continue reading
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