New York City Apartments

NYC landlords continue to offer rent discounts as market softens

February 20, 2017 | by Emily Nonko

Douglas Elliman has released its rental report for the final month of 2016, showing that the rental market did not end the year with a bang. “There’s stress in both Manhattan and Brooklyn rentals,” says Jonathan Miller, the man behind the numbers. December marked a record amount of leases signed with concessions, 26.4 percent. That’s double the amount from the same time last year, which saw 13.1 percent of leases with concessions. Despite all that, the median rent in Manhattan is still higher than it was last year: $3,388/month as compared to $3,350. (The December median changes to $3,291 when you factor in concessions.) The median price for a studio was $2,575/month, a one bedroom came in at $3,395, a two bedroom at $4,588 and a t... Read More

Closing costs: A guide for NYC buyers and sellers

February 20, 2017 | by Leigh Kamping-Carder

One of the most surprising aspects of buying or selling a New York City apartment—and thus, one of the more stressful—is the amount you'll spend on closing costs, potentially tens of thousands of dollars that get tacked onto the purchase or sale of a home. For sellers, closing costs take a bite out of the proceeds from the deal, possibly affecting your future plans. For buyers, closing costs can have a real impact on budget, in some cases persuading you to buy one apartment over the other. “When you’re considering that co-op that you like versus that condo that you like, it’s not just the purchase price, it’s the closing costs as well,” says Doug Perlson, founder of brokerage RealDirect. “When the typica... Read More

NYC’s top 10 wealthiest ZIP codes will surprise you

February 20, 2017 | by Diane Pham

There’s no argument that Tribeca is home to the priciest real estate in all of New York City, but when it comes to wealth as measured by median net worth and household income, its residents don’t even register in the top 10. A new study by ESRI conducted for the NY Business Journal reveals that 11363—or Little Neck, Queens (where Governor Cuomo once owned a mansion, to give you and idea)—is, in fact, New York’s richest ZIP code. Here, the median household income clocks in at an impressive $94,192 with median net worth reaching $326,104. A mansion in 11363, Douglaston, Little Neck, Queens Several Manhattan ZIP codes did come in at the top, but they might not be the ones you’re thinking. According to Esri, the 10 w... Read More

StreetEasy's 2017 New York Housing Market Predictions

January 9, 2017 | by Streeteasy Team

Every year, StreetEasy predicts trends that will be driving the New York City real estate market in the coming year. A year ago, we predicted that 2016 would be the year of the luxury market slowdown and slower price growth across the board, fierce competition in Upper Manhattan and a greater rent burden for Brooklynites. Heading into the New Year, we dusted off our crystal ball – that is, our extensive market data – to forecast some of the leading trends that will shape the city’s sales and rental markets in 2017. Manhattan Sales Market Will Have Slowest Growth of All Boroughs Where high demand and high-priced inventory kept Manhattan resale prices soaring over the past few years, luxury is now what’s dragging the marke... Read More

NYC Real Estate Experts Offer Their 2017 Predictions

January 9, 2017 | by Emily Nonko

CityRealty spoke with New York City real estate experts—everyone from developers to architects to contractors to brokers—on their predictions for the upcoming year in the city’s ever-changing real estate market. From the presidential election of real estate magnate Donald Trump to the likely return of 421A tax incentives, 2017 promises big changes ahead. And yes, renters can look forward to more apartment concessions from landlords coming next year. President Donald Trump will have big effects on NYC real estate Stephen DeNardo, CEO of RiverOak Investment Corp. The day after the election, Crain’s New York Business ran the headline: “President-elect Trump unlikely to hurt real estate industry that made him.” Th... Read More

Rents and the Second Avenue Subway

January 9, 2017 | by Michael Kolomatsky

First proposed nearly a century ago, the Second Avenue subway, or at least a portion of it between 63rd and 96th Streets, is finally scheduled to be up and running in the new year. An extension of the Q line will add new stations at 72nd, 86th and 96th Streets. One might expect that a decade of noisy construction would have kept rents down along this stretch of Second Avenue, but a recent study by StreetEasy indicates otherwise. Source: StreetEasy The New York Times While rents for homes on and near Second Avenue still lag behind those on and near First and Third Avenues, in the last five years they’ve gone up at a greater rate than those on and near the neighboring avenues. The results were calculated using median rents along each avenue ... Read More

Changing Grid: Second Avenue Subway and Its Impact on Rental Costs

December 8, 2016 | by Mariela Quintana

(Source: MTA via Flickr Creative Commons) The Second Avenue subway looms large in the city’s collective consciousness. The decades-in-the-making infrastructure project has become synonymous with setbacks and delays. It has attracted the fascination and loyalty of transportation engineering wonks across the city, served as the subject of thousands of elementary school reports and inspired countless memes and metaphors expressing failure and frustration. The planned Dec. 31, 2016 opening of the first phase stands not as a culmination, but rather a first step towards a modified realization of the decades-old project. Already this projected opening date is proving tentative as recent reports have suggested further delays. In this study, we take a... Read More

Manhattan’s growing ‘shadow’

September 26, 2016 | by E. B. Solomont

In the annals of residential real estate, the dog days of summer are never a good time to sell an apartment. So it’s not surprising that fewer than 1,000 Manhattan units were listed in the week before Labor Day. But in reality, more than 3,000 were actually for sale, representing a cohort of apartments known as “shadow listings” that were removed from the market during the slow spell of late summer. According to analytics site UrbanDigs.com, there were 3,534 shadow Manhattan listings in mid-August — up 67.5 percent year-over-year. That indicates that sellers may finally be adjusting to a market where buyers hold the cards, said John Walkup, the chief operating officer at UrbanDigs. Although sitting on the sidelines in the waning... Read More