NY Observer > apartments

Stat of The Day: Negative Equity and Lots of New Rentals

Tom Acitelli — Thu, 08 May 2008 17:36:36 -0400

From a new report (PDF) by the Center for Economic and Policy Research and the National Low Income Housing Coalition:

According to the most recent Census numbers, in the past year, the number of renter households in the United States increased by nearly 1 million. By contrast, the number of homeowner households increased by just 139,000. The ability for metropolitan area housing markets to accommodate this shift to rental will vary considerably. read more »

What Bear Stearns Means for New York Renters

Tom Acitelli — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 10:54:42 -0400

The New York City rental apartment market is tied closely to the local economy, more so than the sales market. That market might see foreigners buying a lot of condos even as Americans lose their jobs. But the rental market--it tends to rise and to fall with the city's economy. Generally, job losses and uncertainty in New York translates into more vacancies and lower rents.

So the news that JPMorgan Chase and the Federal Reserve are acquiring Bear Stearns, the world's fifth-largest investment bank and one of New York's most prominent employers, could ultimately be good news for the city's renters. Grimly and pragmatically speaking, any layoffs could reduce the number of people who need to be in the city by thousands. That could free up apartments; and that greater vacancy could drive landlords to drop rents. read more »

STAT OF THE DAY: Blame Philip Glass for High Rents

Tom Acitelli — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 16:18:47 -0500

Composer Philip Glass in the March issue of Details:

Q: I understand that in your early days as a composer, you rented a Manhattan loft for 30 bucks.
A: It was down in the Fulton fish market. I paid $30 a month. My friends paid $25, and they thought that I had betrayed the community by allowing the rent to be pushed up that high. I was deeply apologetic for having destabilized the neighborhood.

We Got More Rents! It's Upper West Side vs. Upper East Side!

Lysandra Ohrstrom — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 18:07:46 -0500

In December, apartment rents dropped in both Upper West Side and Upper East Side non-doorman buildings, according to a report out Tuesday from brokerage The Real Estate Group New York.

The best deal for a non-doorman studio can be found on the Upper West Side for an average of $1,734 monthly compared to $1,870 on the Upper East Side, the report said. But studios in doorman buildings on the Upper West Side run for $2,737 compared to only $2,499 on the Upper East Side. read more »

Manhattan Apartment Building Prices Hit Record High

Tom Acitelli — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 11:31:37 -0500

The median sales price of Manhattan apartment buildings below 96th Street rose above $500 a square foot for the first time in the first half of 2007, according to a new report from investment-sales brokerage Massey Knakal and appraisal firm Miller Cicero.

The sales price for elevator apartment buildings reached $517 a foot in the first half of the year and the price for walkups reached $508 a foot. These medians were both sizable increases from the first half of 2006.

Other highlights from the report, including stats on Upper Manhattan apartment buildings, after the jump. read more »

City Lost 6,000 Rent-Stabilized Apartments in '06

Tom Acitelli — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 18:21:31 -0500

New York City lost an estimated 6,022 rent-stabilized apartments in 2006, according to a new report from the city's Rent Guidelines Board. Still, this represented 18 percent fewer rent-stabilized apartments than were lost in 2005.

The city now has roughly 1,043,000 rent-stabilized apartments, and 43,000 rent-controlled ones. Also, another 308,000 apartments fall under some other sort of regulation, and about 697,000 apartments are market-rate. read more »

Ever Fewer Vacancies in Manhattan Apartments

Tom Acitelli — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 11:10:39 -0400

The vacancy rate for larger Manhattan apartment buildings has dropped to near 2 percent and should remain there or lower for the next several months, according to a new report from investment-sales firm Marcus & Millichap. The report covered market-rate buildings with at least 40 apartments.

Reasons for the tighter vacancy rates are familiar: a strong local economy creates new jobs, which creates the need for places for people to live. The report forecasts that 36,000 jobs will have been created in Manhattan this year, a 1.5 percent increase from last year. read more »

Before They Make Her Run: Defending Bianca's Rent-Stabilized Status

Tom Acitelli — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 13:12:21 -0400

We noted last week that Bianca Jagger was getting evicted from her rent-stabilized Park Avenue apartment over visa problems (she's a Brit).

A New York Sun editorial asks today: "... why should the taxpayers of New York have provided a wealthy woman for more than 20 years the benefit of a below-market-rate Park Avenue apartment?"

Curbed answers back, though, with one of the most coldly thorough defenses ever of rent-stabilization, which keeps about 1 million apartments in the city below market rate:

No harm no foul, and here's the thing: We all would have done the exact same thing. Lucking into a rent-stabilized Park Avenue apartment is like winning the lottery, without having all those crazy problems that lottery winners all wind up with for some reason. If suddenly you could afford the market-rate rent, would you want to give up the stabilized rate? ... The system is one giant corrupt game, and we all look for ways to take advantage. Kudos to ol' Bianca for holding on to her place for so long.

Thank You, Archstone! Tishman Speyer's Newest Buildings

Tom Acitelli — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 18:00:05 -0400

A partnership of Tishman Speyer and Lehman Brothers finished gobbling up apartment landlord Archstone-Smith earlier this month, and city records yesterday revealed the Manhattan and Brooklyn buildings involved in the takeover:

250 West 50th Street
245 East 40th Street
505 West 54th Street
303 East 83rd Street
750 Columbus Avenue
730 Columbus Avenue
510 West 52nd Street
515 West 52nd Street
180 Montague Street (Brooklyn)

Report: Manhattan Rents Drop (Yes, Drop)

Julia Heming — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 11:55:48 -0400

Renters, you have been delivered. Relatively speaking.

A new report (PDF) from brokerage The Real Estate Group shows that average monthly rents in non-luxury buildings below 100th Street dropped from September into October. Apartments remain pricey, but the average landlord may be smiling a little less smugly as he or she asks you to kindly sign the lease.

The most expensive neighborhoods were Tribeca and SoHo, with rents ranging from $3,095 to $6,975 a month in doorman buildings. The least expensive neighborhoods were the Lower East Side, the Upper West Side, and Midtown West, where studios, one-bedrooms, and two-bedrooms in non-doorman buildings went for an average $1,752, $2,230, and $3,231, respectively.

Overall, rents decreased the most in one- and two-bedrooms in doorman buildings. Studio apartment rents stayed stable.

In more fabulous news for renters, The Real Estate Group noted that landlord incentives continue. Some landlords now offer to pay broker fees or first month's rent in order to entice tenants.

Have we entered a prolonged golden age for the Manhattan tenant? Or are landlords taking a autumnal breather before the rents again go higher?