Ok, eggs not a great analogy but I needed to squeeze one of my favorite quotes of all time in somehow. Lower leverage is in the future of Wall Street. Take lower risks and there are lower returns to firms eventually translating into lower compensation, translating into tempered housing demand.
This Monday federal regulators finalized guidance on a hot topic as of late: executive compensation:
The final guidance is similar to what the central bank proposed in October, but would now apply to the entire banking industry. Previously, its efforts targeted only holding companies and state-member banks…
The final guidance did not change the three initial goals of the Fed’s proposal: providing incentives that appropriately balance risk and financial results and discourage risk taking; matching “effective controls and risk management”; and supporting corporate governance.
Risk, risk, risk
Senior Economist David Belkin of NYC’s Independent Budget Office received a flurry of media coverage for his post titled “Wall Street Wages: A Rough Ride on Easy Street:”
Monday, July 5, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
5 Million NYC Property Records Available Via Startup's API
Back in the fall, we told you about NYC's BigApps competition, which encouraged technological innovation to benefit government and civic engagement. Public voting for the submitted applications opened this week.
One of the submissions to come out of this competition is Blocks and Lots, an interesting app and API that essentially expose all the property records - more than 5 million records, total - for New York City. For site owners, there's a customizable widget that can be embedded in just about any kind of site.
Blocks and Lots' API allows developers to integrate detailed property information into any web or mobile application. Sample code is available in PHP and JavaScript.
Blocks and Lots comes from BlankSlate, an NYC startup offering a web platform and set of read/write APIs for making, sharing, monetizing, and monitoring web apps. The company provides capabilities such as data, file, user and payment management through REST APIs.
One of the submissions to come out of this competition is Blocks and Lots, an interesting app and API that essentially expose all the property records - more than 5 million records, total - for New York City. For site owners, there's a customizable widget that can be embedded in just about any kind of site.
Blocks and Lots' API allows developers to integrate detailed property information into any web or mobile application. Sample code is available in PHP and JavaScript.
Blocks and Lots comes from BlankSlate, an NYC startup offering a web platform and set of read/write APIs for making, sharing, monetizing, and monitoring web apps. The company provides capabilities such as data, file, user and payment management through REST APIs.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
NYC sues Nigeria for up to $16 million in unpaid real estate taxes on Manhattan building
NEW YORK (AP) — New York City says the government of Nigeria owes it millions of dollars in unpaid taxes on the Manhattan building that houses the Nigerian Consulate.
According to a city lawsuit filed late Monday in federal court, Nigeria owes $4.1 million to $16 million in real estate taxes and interest.
Diplomatic offices are tax exempt. But New York City says parts of Nigeria's 22-story building near the United Nations have been used for commercial purposes, including for Nigeria Airways offices. Those uses are taxable.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday that the city will go after every dollar that is owed to taxpayers.
Consular officials did not immediately respond to a phone call and an e-mail seeking comment.
According to a city lawsuit filed late Monday in federal court, Nigeria owes $4.1 million to $16 million in real estate taxes and interest.
Diplomatic offices are tax exempt. But New York City says parts of Nigeria's 22-story building near the United Nations have been used for commercial purposes, including for Nigeria Airways offices. Those uses are taxable.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday that the city will go after every dollar that is owed to taxpayers.
Consular officials did not immediately respond to a phone call and an e-mail seeking comment.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Manhattan Residential Real Estate Now 'Reasonable'
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--The weather in Manhattan may be in deep freeze, but the real estate market continues to thaw. With prices falling--co-ops have hit 2005 levels--buyers are pounding the (frozen) pavement hunting deals.
Median prices in the fourth quarter were down nearly 15% from a year ago. The average price per square foot fell 17%. Buyers defied the typical seasonal slowness and pounced, sending closings soaring by nearly 50% from a year earlier, according to fourth-quarter data from brokerage The Corcoran Group and PropertyShark.com.
Several market reports expected Tuesday detail a once high-flying market trying to recover from a housing crash and credit-crisis paralysis. While homes are taking longer to sell, there are early signs of improvement: Properties are receiving multiple bids, less inventory is hitting the market and, in the latest quarter, fewer sellers cut prices. International buyers, absent for much of last year, are returning.
"I just can't deny the improvement that we've had," says Noah Rosenblatt, a broker and publisher of UrbanDigs.com, a blog focused on Manhattan real estate. "There's been so much action...The risk of systemic failure has been priced out of the market."
Median prices in the fourth quarter were down nearly 15% from a year ago. The average price per square foot fell 17%. Buyers defied the typical seasonal slowness and pounced, sending closings soaring by nearly 50% from a year earlier, according to fourth-quarter data from brokerage The Corcoran Group and PropertyShark.com.
Several market reports expected Tuesday detail a once high-flying market trying to recover from a housing crash and credit-crisis paralysis. While homes are taking longer to sell, there are early signs of improvement: Properties are receiving multiple bids, less inventory is hitting the market and, in the latest quarter, fewer sellers cut prices. International buyers, absent for much of last year, are returning.
"I just can't deny the improvement that we've had," says Noah Rosenblatt, a broker and publisher of UrbanDigs.com, a blog focused on Manhattan real estate. "There's been so much action...The risk of systemic failure has been priced out of the market."
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