Blog

Over the last few weeks, I have been asked from time time to sum up my thoughts on the market. One recent morning I responded, “I think we’ve seen the end of aspirational pricing for some time.” Something about that comment seemed to resonate with me. What do I mean? First, I do not intendRead more

New construction, at the moment, is drawing stunning levels of interest. As I mentioned in my last post, we’re seeing construction at levels unvisited since 2007, despite a spike in land prices of nearly 300%. The result is an exclusive focus on the high end. A few data points: I’m counting more than forty DowntownRead more

If you took a peek at my other recent post about housing starts being up significantly from 2012 to 2013, note that many of those Manhattan projects are online and in construction. I’m not trying be the frontline reviewer of these projects, necessarily, but in the past month I did get to see 2 projectsRead more

Let’s chat about 551 West 21st Street, a boutique new development whose sales office I visited last week. 551 West 21st Street Full disclosure: My firm is marketing the property, but I am not. This just-born project, one of many in the hopper for Sir Norman Foster of Foster & Partners, is stunning. One ofRead more

While we are seeing a number of new things on the horizon, I did see three other notable properties in the last two weeks, 540 w 49th and 224 Mulberry, and 182 West 82nd Street. First, 540 w 49th Street. It has just hit the market, with two-bedrooms starting around $1400 per square foot. ThereRead more

I was lucky enough to run my 11th marathon this past weekend in Minneapolis (translation: Cloudy Water, for those who didn’t know). A gorgeous town before the snow hits, with neighborhoods that are built around lovely lakes.   Twin Cities Course And as I head to Boston while I’m writing this for a conference, I’veRead more

I’ll recount a short conversation with a top-producing broker in my office this week, after seeing his gorgeous apartment listing on Riverside Drive. “Are you having trouble convincing owners to sell their larger apartments?” “Well, there’s nowhere for them to move into, so yes. There are not enough huge apartments.” The conversation continued talking aboutRead more

Something I wrote a few days ago- If I were to sum up the Real Estate Market in few words, I would say “Summer? What Summer?” I meant that despite this being the hottest summer on record, the market seems to have continued apace. Now that we’re in August, I’m not sure that’s exactly true,Read more

Thought I’d write about the scarcity of property at the moment. take the following examples: Buyer with approximately $1mm budget looking for a 2bedroom, 1.5bath apartment on the Upper West Side. Looked for 6 weeks, really nothing over 1000 square feet to show them, ultimately they rented for another year. Buyer with a budget ofRead more

The mortgage rates are again at super duper lows. This is surely driving refinances. As the market inventory sags, it appears that low rates will be the second big driver of price increases. Yet with no real indication of rate increases beyond normal fluctuations, and various indications that the pain in Europe will cross theRead more