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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 during that time.  The sales from those apartments have continued to aide the market, even as the national business media focuses on the ailing national economy. 

The lesson from the first quarter of the year is an important one:  Events not connected to the…

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 become especially acute as housing prices began to soar in the latest housing boom. Property values became so high that the city felt more and more pressure from landlords to raise the ceilings on monthly rentals in rent-controlled apartments.

Now…

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, it was just another solid year of growth. 

It was more than just momentum, however, that helped make 2007 a strong year for NYC apartments.  At least in terms of Manhattan, there is a long-term, fundamental transformation of the market taking…

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 gold.  Just like gold, there's a whole lot of fake – fool's – versions out there. 

Enter the online scammers, who take advantage of the gullible.  Recently, on Craigslist, there have been frequent posts in the NY apartments section that sound…

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 new buildings. 

As the market has slowly but steadily shifted towards a buyer's market again, new worries about the health of the condo market have begun to surface.  Owners of many new condo buildings are starting to feel the market pressure come…

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, and average rental rates continued to fall, as the financial markets began laying people off (happy new year!) and the national market continued to plummet. 

So, average rental rates for New York apartments in the month of February were on a lot of economists'…

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 the last part of that paragraph might have been hyperbole. But the point remains:  It was tough to buy your first home.  It's quite the process to begin with, but to have to compete with a seemingly endless set of other buyers made it feel next to…

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 the selling process more than it has actual prices. 

Ironically, this could actually feed into the problem.  Some sellers in the New York City real estate market have started to look at the almost-invulnerability of the market and drawn conclusions steeped in…