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While many predicted the first quarter of 2008 would finally show the New York City real estate market's connection to the ailing national market, the city's real estate actually dramatically increased in value during that time. Manhattan led the way for the rest of New York City, which increased its value by an estimated 28%. The luxury market played a large role in increasing the value of the real estate market as a whole, with a number of different high-end condos coming onto the market du... Read Full Post

With the sale last year of a large number of the city's public housing units, the battle over New York City's subsidized housing was brought into stark relief. Indeed, last year's sale of the Manhattan apartment complexes was not only the largest sale of city land ever, it was part of a larger trend. Over the past several Republican administrations in City Hall, and even before that, the city has been steadily reducing their responsibilities in the public housing sector. The problem has becom... Read Full Post

In many ways, 2007 was the culmination of one of the most important periods in the history of New York City real estate. Over the past decade, Manhattan apartments have more than tripled in value. While the rest of the country began to buckle under the pressures of the subprime crisis, the momentum from such a breakneck pace of growth kept the New York City market going strong throughout 2007. Nationally, it was the worst year for housing since the Great Depression; for New York apartments, i... Read Full Post

Money and need do funny things to the human mind. What is far too good to be true from an objective perspective can start looking pretty darn realistic after you've spent months awkwardly crashing on friends' couches while you look for a place to live. There were pioneers who traveled west and struck gold during the California gold rush faster than some people can get an apartment in this city. And even in this new buyer's market, quality NYC apartments can be about as rare and valuable as go... Read Full Post

In New York City, the condominium has been the symbol and substance of the last real estate building boom. As rents and property values soared, the city walked away from its traditional reliance on housing co-ops and into a brave new world of condo building. Though 85% of all NY apartments for sale are still co-ops, the condo market is the newer of the two. As new buildings full of hundreds of brand new apartments go on the market, vacancy rates rise and fall depending on the success of those... Read Full Post

Usually, the beginning of the year sees an uptick in rental rates. There are various boring economic reasons for this seasonal cycle that are really just too dry to get into. Suffice to say, it has nothing to do with landlords falling out of their holiday cheer after a month of saying in December "OK guys, you know what, lower rent for everyone, and eggnog drinks on me!" That never happens. Landlords don't do that. The point is, though, that that didn't happen this year. January rolled around... Read Full Post

In the real estate market of 2007 and prior – doesn't it all seem so long ago? – first-time buyers were at a distinct disadvantage. The market was something close to rabidly competitive among buyers, and if you didn't have all of your ducks in a row, you'd lose out to the guy who saw the apartment five minutes before you. In fact, there was a chance that the guy that saw the apartment ten minutes after you had a suitcase full of unmarked bills and was just waiting to throw down. OK, so th... Read Full Post

Analysts are growing concerned over the potential of a significant deteriation of the New York City real estate market in the second half of 2008. So far, the city's market has been far and away the most successful at avoiding the damage that the national real estate climate has done to most other markets. Signs of the New York apartment market's mortality, however, began to appear at the end of 2007. Even so, most of the drawback in demand has effected negotiation times and other aspects of ... Read Full Post

Homes define New York City. More than any of the cultural attractions the city is known for, the one feature of the city that sticks out in most people's minds when they visit the city for the first time is the endless – as far as the eye can see – ocean of buildings. The vast majority of these are residential, and there is the fundamental New York City in a nutshell: Gone are the suburbs, gone the typical city's dance of urban and suburban; gone the grassy fields at the edge of town... I... Read Full Post

It is, in some of the social circles of the super-rich and super-famous, considered a necessary status symbol to have a swanky New York Apartment. You would expect that, in a civilized society, those who have more income than they know what to do with would be asked to pay higher property taxes than those struggling to get by. On the off chance that you are more cynical than that, you might still at least hope that the homes of the mega-rich are taxed at the same rates as the average person. ... Read Full Post