Weekly Roundup: Rent squeeze, U.S. price gains, rates reversal, stocks vs. housing, declining buyer regret, best inflation hedge, tomorrow’s market

‘Gatsby’ lends a whiff of luxury, glamor to buildings

With declining vacancy rate, rents in Manhattan and Brooklyn keep rising

Navigating school zones trickier as more families with young children put down roots

85-year-old man adopted 62-year-old woman of privilege for her to claim $100-a-month Queens rental

Brick Underground lists eight best site for finding a no-fee apartment

Blog on worst rentals would be funny if Continue reading

Tribeca loft goes for $3.15 million in city auction

The Ice House, 27 N. Moore St. in Tribeca.

With only a single competitor, a Long Island man won a two-bedroom, two-bath condo at 27 N. Moore St. for the favorable price of $3.15 million at the city’s auction of nine apartments in Manhattan today.

Public Administrator Ethel J. Griffin had set the minimum price at $3 million for the more than 2,000-sf loft, which had been owned by one Veronica Lee in a building called the Ice House.  According to Curbed.com, Lee paid $774,000 for the unit in 1999 and died owing JP Morgan Chase $1.9 million left on her mortgage.

“I feel good,” successful bidder Mario Montoya told me after the auction, adding that he had been prepared to offer “a little more.” Continue reading

City to auction off $3 million condo, 8 other units

Condominium called the Ice House at 27 North Moore St. in Tribeca

The sale of a condo with a minimum bid of $3 million is the highlight of a new estate auction scheduled for June 28 by Public Administrator Ethel J. Griffin.

Among the eight other apartments to go on the block starting at 11:30 a.m. are three income-limited units, a co-op in the Kips Bay neighborhood and one on the Upper West Side in the Lincoln Towers complex.

The $3 million unit is in the Ice House, at 27 North Moore St., in Tribeca.  It was owned by one Veronica Lee, but I have been unable to find verifiable information about her.

What I know is that Continue reading

Weekly Roundup: Manhattan sales pace up, condo prices rise, inventory is tight, rates hit another new low, consensus on recovery is developing

Townhouse where Weather Underground dwelling was destroyed in bomb explosion is listed for $10.9 million

Mystery buyer pays $90 million for Midtown penthouse at One57, breaking price record for an NYC condo

Entering a tall-buildings race, New York could have 6 of the 10 tallest buildings in the country by 2016

Majority of respondents prefer smoke-free living in the city

Madison Square’s commercial identity has in places ceded to residential character in recent years

Developers now show reluctance to offer incentives to purchasers of condos

Asking prices, sales zoom in Continue reading

Weekly Roundup: Turning point possibility, record rates again, pet habitats that pamper, stocks vs. housing returns, bulls in retreat. More!

By dollars per square foot, Tribeca tops all other Manhattan neighborhoods in Q1

Average monthly rent in Manhattan attains record $3,429 or $4,250 in April, depending on source

When you move here from out of state, the taxman wants to get his hooks into you

Manhattan has had 169 percent spike in new building permits this year, 35 of them in contrast to 13

Water Board approves 7 percent increase starting July 1

Citywide Q1 sales Continue reading