Even in New York, Affordable Apartments

THE national median home price right now is $224,500. But finding anything even close to that in New York — where the average sale price for a Manhattan apartment hovers just above $1.3 million — would be like snagging a seat on a downtown No. 6 train at the height of rush hour. Or would it? In the current market, staying in Manhattan for $200,000 or less would be a definite challenge. But for those willing to venture beyond, there are neighborhoods in Queens, the Bronx and Brooklyn, all near subway lines, where one-bedroom co-ops can be had for less than $200,000 and studios can be bought for less than $150,000.

Buyers and Sellers Turn To Brokers in Troubled Market

Mr. Czepiel is among a class of worried buyers and sellers who have turned during an uncertain period not to economists but to their brokers. Throughout the industry, brokers have created files of articles that talk up New York City's "bulletproof" or "insulated" real estate economy; they also have begun posting on their professional Web sites information to diffuse the panic brought on by ominous headlines. "The blog is my way of providing clients with real-time information," Mr. Czepiel's broker and the principal of A Fine Company, Andrew Fine, said. Fifteen minutes after the Federal Reserve slashed interest rates last week, Mr. Fine put a post up describing how the move was good for the city's real estate economy, he sa

Big N.Y. Real Estate Deals Belie Idea of a Slowdown

A slew of financial services firms have leased large blocks of office space in recent weeks, many for rents approaching $200 a square foot, belying fears of a market slowdown. Among the largest deals are those of investment firm AllianceBernstein, which has inked a deal to expand by about 151,500 square feet at 1345 Sixth Ave., and National Financial Partners, a network of financial advisers that is moving into a nearly 100,000-square-foot space at 340 Madison Ave. In addition, PricewaterhouseCoopers has a lease pending for 200,000 square feet at 100 Park Ave., according to brokers familiar with the deal.

Investors see Manhattan as a safe haven

If you are a European investor worried about the security of your money at home, why not look for a bargain in Manhattan? Although house prices have risen sharply in the Big Apple in recent years, the strength of the Euro and the British pound, mean that a new two-bedroom flat costs significantly less than in London or Dublin. And while most of America's housing market is mired in the sub-prime mortgage crisis, New York has shown no sign of vulnerability - yet.

Manhattan commercial real estate sales soar

Credit crunch aside, commercial real estate sales in Manhattan have already surpassed last year’s record total, according to a report released Wednesday by Cushman & Wakefield Inc. The real estate company estimates that in the first eight months of the year, sales transactions that either closed or are under contract totaled more than $40 billion. In all of 2006, transactions amounted to $34.7 billion.

Where the Deals Are

FOR more than a year, home buyers who have been looking in the suburbs of Manhattan have struggled to reconcile market rhetoric with metro-area reality. Technically, the overstocked and sluggish market gave them the upper hand. But when it came to actual negotiations, sellers were clinging tightly to the past, and many scoffed at price reductions of more than a few percentage points. Now, after a nearly nonexistent spring selling season and a summer marred by stock-market jitters, buyers and sellers are closer to a meeting of the minds.

Soaring N.Y. real estate values can set unhappy couples free

NEW YORK - For years, Michele Kleier, a real estate broker on the Upper East Side, knew why one of her most persistent clients was calling even before picking up the phone.
The client, a former high-ranking fashion executive and perpetual volunteer at her children's private schools, was checking the price she could get for her nine-room co-op. When the market reached a high, she told Kleier, she planned to divorce her husband, sell the apartment and live on her profits.

Midtown’s Biggest Fans May Be Foreign Buyers

In June, the Italian real estate investor Luigi Zunino made a foray into the New York market with the purchase of 660 Madison Avenue, the stylish office tower atop Barneys New York, for $375 million. At $1,488 a square foot, according to Mr. Harmon, it set a record for Manhattan commercial real estate. The deal, which closed on Aug. 30, was leveraged at a more modest 70 percent, with Deutsche Bank providing the financing, according to Mr. Harmon, who was the exclusive adviser for the transaction.

Midtown’s Biggest Fans May Be Foreign Buyers

In particular, foreign investors who, buoyed by the strong economies and currencies in their own countries, now see an opportunity to scoop up coveted Manhattan real estate.
“The global capital markets are flush with strong currency buyers who see our shores as a relative bargain,” said Douglas Harmon, the senior managing director at Eastdil Secured, a real estate investment bank based in New York. In June, the Italian real estate investor Luigi Zunino made a foray into the New York market with the purchase of 660 Madison Avenue, the stylish office tower atop Barneys New York, for $375 million. At $1,488 a square foot, according to Mr. Harmon, it set a record for Manhattan commercial real estate.

Risanamento buys assets in New York

Milan-based Italian real-estate group Risanamento S.p.A. announces the important investment in the prestigious buildings market from Broadway 660 Madison Fee LLC relative to a twenty-three story building located at 660 Madison Avenue, New York City, in the Plaza District, for $375mln. The asset, home of Barney's the prestigious department store, measures about 24,000 square meters, for a purchase price of about €11,600 per square meter. 660 Madison Avenue is the first commercial building coming from the Upper East Side, one of the most exclusive residential areas in Manhattan, and features extremely rare characteristics for New York City buildings such as undisputed Central Park views and wide terraces. The location and the high quality of the asset has made it one of the prime and most prestigious addresses for financial boutique firms in New York City.

Prospect Park Apartments

Apartments adjacent to parks in Manhattan, and near Prospect Park and the planned Brooklyn Bridge Park here, are selling at a 25 percent premium, the New York Sun reports. The average sales price for On Prospect Park, a 114-unit, 15-story glass building going up on Grand Army Plaza, is about $1,100 a square foot. And units inside One Brooklyn Bridge Park, the 449-unit conversion of the former Jehovah’s Witnesses Distribution Center, are selling in excess of $1,200 a square foot. “Being across from a park provides not only a nice view, but also far more light and air for the units — in perpetuity — than does a midblock site,” Abby Hamlin, president of Hamlin Ventures, told the Sun.

Diary of a Real Estate Rookie by Alison Rogers

Diary of a Real Estate Rookie is essential reading for the neophyte real estate investor, and for anyone who listens with envy to cocktail-party stories that always climax with "huge capital gains." Unlike most popular authors in this field, Rogers refuses to present real estate as an easy path to riches. That's refreshing. If you want to read about how easy it is to be a landlord or to flip property, try Robert Kyosaki. Rogers always reminds the reader that the real estate life doles out a daily dose of work and risk. She's also great with the absurd anecdote. She describes a Manhattan penthouse sale where a high-end broker, "offering the apartment for $3.99 million had not managed to take away the show sheets left by [another broker] who had offered the unit just a few months earlier at $2.77 million. Just yesterday, I was in a model unit priced at $2.3 million, where, I swear to heaven, I could have done a better job installing the floors with a staple gun."