Manhattan | The New York Observer

First-Time Buyers Officially Ascendant in Grim Manhattan Market; Luxury Takes a Holiday

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 11:17:11 -0400

According to several first-quarter Manhattan housing reports released today - including ones from the Corcoran Group and Property Shark (PDF); Prudential Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel; Brown Harris Stevens (PDF) and Halstead Property (PDF); and StreetEasy - condo and co-op sales have fallen precipitously from last year. Corcoran estimates that sales have fallen by 52 percent and Douglas Elliman reports a 47.6 percent fall, for instance.

Either way, you get the picture and it...

Manhattan Housing: Get Some

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 08:02:46 -0500

You know how this ends. Prudential Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel have published a mammoth analysis of the Manhattan housing market from 1999 through 2008. The findings are predictable: prices shot up. The average price per square foot for an apartment in 1999 was $400; a decade later it was over three times as much.

The current recession is supposed to have ended such price leaps. It has—for a time. Apartment prices will, sooner...

Bounce This! No Usual New Year's Jump for Manhattan Rents

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 15:37:15 -0500

Well, so much for the seasonal peaks and valleys in the real estate market. According to the Real Estate Group New York’s January Manhattan rental market report (PDF), released today, month-to-month average rents fell for studios, one-bedroom apartments and two-bedroom apartments, in both doorman and non-doorman buildings. It was a clean sweep, and one that bucked the usual seasonal upward trend of rents from December to January.

Here are the grim rent numbers...

Manhattan Rents Falling, and Fast

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 13:29:19 -0500

The seemingly irreversible slide in Manhattan rents continued into January, according to a report (PDF) released today by Citi Habitats. Rents flopped almost across the board from December, with the exception of two-bedroom apartments, which saw an insignificant $4 increase on average.

The year-over-year decline in average rents is much more pronounced, with rents falling dramatically: three-bedroom rents, now at $4,597, fell $121; two-bedroom rents, now at $3,534, fell $200; one-bedroom rents, now at...

Condo Sales, That Great Manhattan Barometer, Plunge From '07

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 02:35:15 -0400

This is the first in a three-part series today covering the Manhattan housing market since autumn 2007.

Manhattan condo sales dropped 22.6 percent annually in the third quarter of 2008, according to a new report from appraisal firm Miller Samuel and brokerage giant Prudential Douglas Elliman. At the same time, the 12 months from September 2007 to now, the median sales price, the average sales price and the average sales price per square foot...

Queens Tops in Summer Foreclosures; Manhattan Notches 35

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 11:16:54 -0400

There were 665 new foreclosures in Queens during the third quarter of 2008, according to PropertyShark's new report (PDF here), which accounted for half of the new foreclosure auctions in New York City and helped push New York’s quarterly foreclosures to a two-year high of 1,118.

In general, first-time foreclosures were higher in the outer boroughs and relatively nonexistent in Manhattan, where there were only 35 in the three months ending Sept. 30. Staten...

Sunrise, Sunset

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 16:03:39 -0400

"Change is part of nature's progression. As much as we all romanticize about how it was back then in NYC, we cannot be complacent and let it roll over us. I do miss the gritty NYC but how does one adapt to a changed city when one is emotionally attached to it's past. Like a relationsship, it evolves and thus so do we. Bring it on. The cultural, avante garde and the the hip...

The Incredibly Shrinking Native Manhattanite in Manhattan

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 08:05:33 -0400

"We are a very happy and yet jaded people," said Zoe Schneider, 36, the creator of Zoe Lou Designs, a line of New York-themed kid's clothes.

Ms. Schneider was standing at the dimly lit entrance of Dusk Lounge bar on West 24th Street last Tuesday evening. Inside was September's gathering of The Magic Garden, a regular congregation of people raised in the five boroughs.

...

Brooklyn vs. Manhattan: A Handy Price Guide

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:43:17 -0400

Here's a breakdown of Manhattan and Brooklyn housing prices in the second quarter of 2008, according to reports from Miller Samuel and Douglas Elliman.

Average sales price

Manhattan: $1,669,729Brooklyn: $588,441

Median sales price

Manhattan: $1,025,000Brooklyn: $525,000

Average condo sales price

Manhattan: $1,937,090Brooklyn: $601,280

Median condo sales price

Manhattan: $1,267,000Brooklyn: $514,725

Average co-op sales price

Manhattan: $1,280,201Brooklyn: $332,250

Median co-op sales price

Manhattan: $755,000Brooklyn: $255,000...

Manhattan Housing Market as Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 11:39:44 -0400

Next Tuesday is April 1, and the first-quarter housing market reports for Manhattan will start trickling out from brokerages like Halstead, Corcoran and Douglas Elliman. What will they say about home sales?

No one knows for certain, of course, but the speculation should pick up noticably in the next few days so here goes:

The first quarter of any year is usually relatively paltry in terms of the number of closed deals because those deals were...

STAT OF THE DAY: That Boxed-In Feeling

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:39:47 -0400

Manhattan's population grew 3.8 percent from July 1, 2001--two months before September 11--to July 1, 2007, according to new Census estimates. The borough's population now stands at an estimated 1,620,867. That's roughly 71,403 Manhattanites per square mile....

Brooklyn, Queens Among Nation's 10 Most Populous Counties

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:47:50 -0400

Brooklyn is the seventh-largest county in the United States, according to new census estimates. The County of Kings has 2,528,050 residents. Queens was No. 10 with 2,270,338; and Manhattan was No. 19 with 1,620,867 residents. The census' estimates run through July 1, 2007.

Although all three experienced population gains over previous years' estimates going back to 2000, none were among the nation's 100 fastest-growing counties; nor were the Bronx or Staten Island. The...

STAT OF THE DAY: Two-Bedrooms Too Pricey Too

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:59:49 -0400

I wrote in this week's paper about how, even after all the calamitous economic news (like Bear Stearns' collapse), Manhattan rents appear buoyant if not strong. Most of the average rents I cited were for one-bedroom apartments. Here's some March stats on two-bedrooms, from the new report by The Real Estate Group New York:$3,858 -- the average for non-doorman two-bedrooms south of 155th Street$5,265 -- the average for doorman two-bedrooms south of 155th...

Fed to Manhattan: Shine On, You Crazy Diamond!

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 14:56:45 -0500

Brokers, developers, and the media have been trumpeting the resilience of Manhattan’s condo and co-op market for nearly a year, and now even the Federal Reserve has singled it out in the latest installment of its regional survey known as the “Beige Book.”

The Fed interviewed businesses in 12 districts to gauge the pulse of the economy, and results from across the country show that it is sputtering. The report says growth has slowed...

What Do Septembers Teach Us About Manhattan Housing?

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 10:43:21 -0500

The Wall Street Journal this morning asked the eternally burning question: Will Manhattan home sales drop like sales have been dropping in other markets around the country?

The Journal cites a Corcoran Group analysis which showed a 9.9 percent year-over-year September drop in the number of Manhattan home sales going to contract.

That got us to wondering: What do the borough's home sales usually do in September? The answer is they go up--or they go...

Manhattan America's Wealthiest County!

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 11:06:40 -0500

Congratulations to us all! Manhattan has maintained its spot as America's wealthiest county. A Manhattanite's salary averages $2,821 a week, according to the Wall Street Journal (and that's sans bonuses)....

Rents Slightly Down In Manhattan! Thank Your Landlord

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 10:32:38 -0400

Believe it or not, rents are going down in Manhattan.

At least that is what a report from The Real Estate Group is saying. In their August 2007 Manhattan Rental Market Report, the brokerage states that, after a peak this summer, rents are down boroughwide.

And the neighborhood where one-bedrooms had the steepest decline? Soho. In July, you would be paying close to $3,800 for a...

Second Avenue Subway Convert Protects First Leg of Biggest Dig