Weekly Roundup: Hot sales, rising prices and rents, upward trending rates, online reno tools, conflicting recovery predictions and much more

Sales hot, hot, hot in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, where Williamsburg prices soar 23.6 percent in year

Even with continued inventory shortage, Q2 sales leap up

Average rent in city (excluding Staten Island) breaks $3,000 for first time

And median rent in Manhattan hits $3,195 in June, with Brooklyn’s jumping 13.5 percent since 2012

Many uptown adherents now embracing downtown neighborhoods they once considered unthinkable

Landlords, boards of co-ops and condos tailoring latest amenities to

Weekly Roundup: March of rents in May, skyscraper wars, all-cash offers, inventory, continued rate increases, £2 million trailer

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

Columbia think tank cites need for small city of new housing to accommodate population growth by 2040

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

The Big Apple: Don’t try to remember September

BONUS FEVER AND DISCOUNTS HAVE THE CITY’S HOUSING MARKET IN THEIR GRIP

Since the economy melted down, bonuses have been up, down and spinning all around. Anticipation has had brokerages and developers panting one minute and totally depressed the next.

While the bonuses have had brokers and developers abuzz, another obsession has been rippling through the real estate world over the last week: discounts.

THOSE SPIFFY NEW DEVELOPMENTS LOOK GREAT, BUT BUYERS NEED TO GIVE THEM MORE THAN A ONCE-OVER

Every freshly minted building has problems that can range from buckling floors to cooling systems that sound like a Fresh Direct truck parked outside your window to leaky roofs that can cost tens of thousands of dollars to repair, observes Brick Underground.

If you are in the market to buy and this is news to you or you and your neighbors are just starting to compare punch lists, you may want to get educated on the things that can go wrong in new or converted condominiums. Defects tend to fall into seven categories,

Buyers seek to renege on contracts in 20 buildings

Will the last one out of 505 W. 47th St. turn off the lights?

The Real Deal has found buyers asking for their deposits back on nearly 400 units within 20 buildings. In one case, more than 50 percent of the buyers in a building, the 505 in Hell’s Kitchen, filed lawsuits in federal court asking for return of their deposits.

Gee, new condos that sprang up spring leaks

“There’s always an underlying number of lawsuits about defects, but about a year ago the number started to increase.  And over the next two years there’s going to be an explosion, because of all the buildings that were built at about the same time.”

So Stuart M. Saft, a real estate lawyer and the chairman of the Council of New York Cooperatives and Condominiums, told the New York Times in a story that led the real estate section on Sunday.