Weekly Roundup: Foreclosure auction, DOMA effects, climbing prices and rates, millennials, home offices, housing affordability and more

Have a great holiday week! No more posts until July 8.

Foreclosure auction scheduled for co-op in posh River House at end of 18-year legal battle

Metro area’s foreclosures down in April but still above national average

6.2 percent growth in construction spending expected during the year

End of DOMA produces real estate tax benefits for New Yorkers, of course others as well

Analysis of Manhattan prices, sales suggests they’re flatter than apparent in Q2

Actress sees black, not red, in sale of Greenwich Village duplex for $7.45 million

Comedian who played TV psychologist, hotel owner lists Bel Air home again at new lower price of $15.5 million

Peripatetic former Dateline anchor

Weekly Roundup: Upcoming auction, Hamptons rentals, U.S. prices, trending rates, much more

Queens public administrator schedules auction of three co-ops, 12 houses from $64,000 to $1.054 million

Co-op boards have broad latitude in making, amending, rescinding house rules, however wiggy

Suburbs, particularly in Connecticut and New Jersey, see rising prices

And in the Hamptons, number of $1 million rentals — for the summer alone — approaches record

Homeowners hurt by Sandy to receive property tax reductions totaling $90 million

Uh, those folks using balconies for storage or dead house plants can opt for highest, best use

When it comes to living here, actor Richard Kind knows what he loves

Again to be newly wed, actress turned fashion mogul lists Beverly Hills estate for $8 million

Discount taken in purchase of singer’s Central Park West apartment hardly immaterial

Rap mogul

Weekly Roundup: Skinny condominiums, celeb comings and goings, nation’s price and sales increases, continuing rate rise, investments

This has been year of pricing audaciously

City’s property records site gets update with more information

Developers specifically catering to families in West Chelsea and farther downtown

New graduates returning to New York City learning that life just isn’t fair

Zillow says it takes up to 11.9 years, depending on neighborhood, to match cost of buying with renting

Boom in luxury towers

Suburbs aren’t, and won’t be, what they were

Welcome home–not so much! (Flickr photo by Pierre Metivier)

When it comes to the suburbs and especially the exurbs, look back to the cities.  Consider these facts:

• Three quarters of recent college graduates and young professionals say they plan to live in an urban core even if it costs them more money than elsewhere and their living space is smaller;
• Baby Boomers are listing their suburban homes to live near urban amenities;
• Household size continues to diminish along with household formation;
• The housing crisis has caused plunging building permits, undeveloped subdivisions and price increases that lag the cities;
• The flagging economy has pushed up unemployment rates and poverty in the exurbs;
• Real estate investors have no interest in suburban office parks and commercial real estate in more distant suburbs.

Those are not my observations, but

Weekly Roundup: Rising condo taxes, foreclosure woes, price declines, ‘typical’ buyer, much more

Next week, I’ll have just one or two posts and hope that my readers have a very happy Thanksgiving.

Library is great resource for the history of your building

For $1,000 a month, an UWS apartment — uh, room or closet — can be yours!

Yesterday’s buyers in tax-abated buildings come to grips with tomorrow’s escalating costs

More folks moved to the city last year than left it for the first time in decades

A Times columnist tries out Airbnb in the city

City’s wealthy suburbs among nation’s hardest hit by foreclosures

Condos in unbuilt UES development boom as in times gone by

Pre-foreclosure filings in October down 20% from September and 39% from one year earlier

Brooklyn is friendliest borough to (wo)man’s best friend

What is the definition of ‘market value’

Nemo and Mickey join Department of Housing Preservation and Development

WestSideRag posts funny, cutting rant about broker babble

Unemployment rate ticks up, concerning at least one economist

He sees rich people for this Sun Valley listing

Fashion designer

Weekly Roundup: Brooke’s place takes a beating, mortgage rates jump, $1 million goes only so far

Because of city’s renters, state has lowest homeownership rate in the nation

Harlem attracts post-slump buyers

Brooke Astor’s Park Avenue duplex goes for half its 2008 asking price

Wall Street jobs cut since 2008 could total 32,000 by end of next year

Landlords trim concessions in Q3, effectively raising rents

Even with sales slowing, 3Q prices of new condos rise 4% in Manhattan and 3% in Brooklyn

Governor’s wife selling their home on their own behalf

Actor lists his vantage point in Montana for $14 million to surf in Hawaii

What $1 million buys

The Big Apple: Nascent signs of recovery emerge

MANHATTAN BUCKS WORSENING STATEWIDE TREND OF RISING MORTGAGE DELINQUENCIES

The mortgage loan delinquency rate in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens in the final quarter of 2010 was up from year-earlier levels, according to a recent quarterly analysis. The uptick could well lead to a rise in foreclosure activity in coming months.

Manhattan was the only borough to see a decline in delinquencies, with a slight drop of 0.04 percentage points in the period.

APARTMENT MARKET SHOWS POSSIBLE SIGNS OF STRENGTH

Sales in the Manhattan co-op and condo market show signs of bouncing back after dropping sharply last month, reports the Wall Street Journal.

January sales were hurt because

Weekly Roundup: Clouds admit glimmers of hope

Depending on news volume, this Friday feature may not–but probably will–return before Jan. 7.  Please do check back between now and then for occasional posts.

Meantime, here’s your chance to catch up with real estate developments included to inform, enlighten and perhaps even entertain you. To read about The Big Apple, check out another of today’s three posts.

MAISONETTE OWNED BY LATE UPPER-CRUST FAMILY FINALLY FINDS BUYERS SLICED FROM THE SAME LOAF

AN ACTING COUPLE SLIPS AWAY IN THE CITY AFTER THEIR OFFER IS ACCEPTED

WRITER OF MONEY SPENDS A BUNCH OF IT TO BUY A BROWNSTONE IN BROOKLYN

PRIZE-WINNING IRISH NOVELIST WHO IS LOVED BY OPRAH MOVES UP IN THE WORLD

RATHER FAMOUS BARD’S HOME ON THE RANGE IS ON THE MARKET

DECADE ENDS WITH AVERAGE 58 PERCENT GAIN IN HOME PRICES

CONTINUING TO RISE,

The Big Apple: Q3 surge confirmed and more

THEIR COUNTRIES CHANGE, BUT NOT FOREIGNERS’ INTEREST IN HOMES HERE

Foreigners are once again buying in Manhattan, energizing the still-fragile market. In recent months, according to brokers and developers, the money has been just as likely to come from