Category: Residential Real Estate

From NY Post.com:

Manhattan rents soared to another record high in July but leasing activity dipped — leaving a glimmer of hope the red-hot market is approaching its peak. Renters forked over an average of $5,588 last month to live in the borough — a 9.3% increase from last July — and prices jumped more than 15% in Brooklyn and parts of Queens, according to the latest rental market report from appraisers Miller Samuel and brokerage giant Douglas Elliman. Manhattan’s median rent, at $4,400 per month, also set a new record for the fourth time in five consecutive months, the report showed. The July figure marked a 2.2% month-over-month increase from June’s median rent of $4,300, the only month in the past five that saw a decrease from the 30 days prior. The skyrocketing prices are 30% higher than what landlords charged in 2019 — despite the pandemic-induced exodus dropping Manhattan’s population by 400,000 between June 2020 and June 2022, according to U.S. Census data. The dearth of apartments for sale because of high interest rates have forced many would-be buyers to rent, brokers said. Workers also have returned to live in Manhattan as more and more companies mandate they be at their desks at least part of the week. Meanwhile, the number of new leases signed last month declined by 6% compared to 2022.

Miller Samuel CEO Jonathan Miller told The Post that prices may be capping out. “What’s a little different this month is that leasing activity fell, and typically July and August are peak leasing season,” Miller said. “What this suggests is that consumers are beginning to hit the threshold of what they can afford, which may suggest that rents are approaching their peak for the time being.” Miller noted that unlike in the sale of goods and services, where prices surge when there’s a greater demand, in housing “as landlords push to get higher rents, we’re seeing a drop in the people that are actually renting.” Still, the increase in rents in July was across the board — from studio apartments to three-bedroom cribs. In Manhattan, the average rental price for a studio in July was $3,236. One-, two- and three-bedroom apartments went for $4,366, $6,226 and $10,744, respectively. To live in a luxury building in Manhattan, be prepared to dish out an average of $15,260 monthly, the report showed — a nearly 13% surge from last year. There were few deals to be found across the East River. Brooklyn’s median rent rose 16.2%, to $3,950, compared to last year — the highest in history. The borough saw 11.2% less inventory and a 52.1% dip in new lease signings, according to the report. The average rental in Brooklyn was $4,347 in July, another record high. Rents in popular Queens neighborhoods like Astoria and Long Island City spiked 17% year-over-year, to an average of $4,003, according to the report.. The median rental price in northwest Queens was $3,641. New leases were down 13.5% in the area, though the average rental spent only one day on the market before getting snatched up.

The report does not include data on the Bronx or Staten Island. Miller expects the record prices to be broken again next month, “the busiest leasing season of the year.” “July is second, so it’s certainly possible to see another record net month, but I suspect we’re getting near the top,” Miller said. However, that doesn’t mean prices will be falling come September. “Many people (think) the opposite of rising rents are falling rents, but we just had the Federal Reserve say they didn’t think there was a recession in front of us, so I contend that the opposite of rising rents is stable rent,” Miller said. “It seems unreasonable to expect rents to fall significantly in the near term” unless there was some “significant economic event with substantial job loss,” he added. US data released Thursday showed the price of everyday goods and services rose moderately in July, showing signs of progress in the central bank’s tightening cycle to snuff tamp down inflation. However, rising housing costs were by far the largest contributor to July’s uptick in prices, accounting for 90% of the advance, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.

BY: MICHAEL YOUNG AND MATT PRUZNICK 

From Yimby

Construction is complete on The Parluxe, an eight-story mixed-use building at 71-82 Parsons Boulevard in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens. Designed by ARC Architecture and developed by A&R Properties Group, the all-electric structure spans 100,000 square feet and yields 94 rental units in studio to two-bedroom layouts with interiors by Durukan Design, as well as 8,000 square feet of community facility space and 45 enclosed parking spaces. REAL New York is handling marketing and leasing for the property, which is bound by Parsons Boulevard to the east, Aguilar Avenue to the west, and 72nd Avenue to the south.

Recent photos show the completed look of the façade, which is composed of light gray bricks, ACM metal and wooden paneling, and floor-to-ceiling windows and sliding doors. There are multiple stacks of balconies lined with glass railings, and an expansive roof terrace surrounds the upper volume of the building. The ground-floor community facility can be subdivided into three spaces measuring 1,900 square feet, 3,850 square feet, and 2,250 square feet, or be activated by a single tenant.

From the Wall Street Journal:

Insiders in the real estate industry claim they have observed an increase in the number of foreign buyers returning to the US market. International buyers have been slowly returning after a period of relative absence during the pandemic for more than a year, but insiders reported that in the last three months, their levels of interest had nearly reached pre-pandemic levels. That is due to a combination of loosening Covid regulations around the world, particularly in previously rigorous nations like China, as well as a number of political and economic developments, such the Russia-Ukraine war and the tumultuous Brazilian election.

Foreign purchasers are a significant shift in domestic markets that have been cooling as a result of rising interest rates and recessionary worries. The decline comes after a strong real estate boom, driven by Covid, that drove most U.S. markets higher in 2021 and early 2022.

“It was the domestic buyer that led the recovery out of Covid,” said John Gomes of Douglas Elliman, who said foreign buyers currently account for about 40% of his team’s business, which has offices in New York, Miami and Los Angeles. That is up from just over 30% before the pandemic. “It is the foreign buyer that is leading the recovery this time around. It’s very, very apparent.”

“It was a real unknown when and if, after the pandemic, the Chinese buyer would come back to New York,” he said.

By contrast, Corcoran Sunshine has “clearly seen a pullback” over the past 10 months in activity by local and domestic buyers, he said.As listing websites like Redfin don’t maintain track of a buyer’s country of origin, it is challenging to get information on the volume of transactions by foreign buyers. The assertions of a resurgence of foreign buyers are, nevertheless, supported by some facts.

Corcoran Sunshine, a new development marketing company that sells condos all around New York City, reported a 25% rise in foreign visits to its portfolio buildings in January 2023 compared to January 2022, with a significant increase in visitors from China and the Middle East. According to Ryan Schleis, senior vice president of research and analytics at Corcoran, the company’s portfolio saw more than triple the number of foreign visitors and more than twice the number of foreign buyers during the same period in 2022 compared to the pandemic’s slowest sales period, April through December 2020.

He ascribed the increase in part to China abandoning its zero-Covid regulations, enabling Chinese citizens to finally go to the United States with more freedom.  “It was a real unknown when and if, after the pandemic, the Chinese buyer would come back to New York,” he said.

In contrast, Corcoran Sunshine has “obviously experienced a downturn” in activity from local and domestic purchasers over the previous 10 months, he claimed.

Some developers in South Florida claim to have recently noticed an uptick in demand from Brazilian purchasers. The developers of Nexo Residences, a 254-unit condo development in North Miami Beach, reported that since October 2022, amid political unrest following the nation’s presidential elections, Brazilian buyers’ interest has increased by 30%. In order to lead the political opposition to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and defend himself from claims that he instigated attacks by protestors on government buildings in January, the former president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, has stated that he intends to return to Brazil this month.

An off-market listing for an 800-square-foot oceanfront Montauk trailer is in contract to sell for a record $3.75 million, which equates to a cool $5,000 per-square-foot, The New York Post has learned. Located in Montauk Shores, the price point is several times the previous record in the area, where the last highest recorded sale was $1.85 million for a trailer that traded hands in 2022. It’s a high price to pay for sure. When compared to New York City’s luxury market, roughly the same price per square foot — $4,998 — is getting a deep-pocketed buyer a 3,951-square-foot penthouse at the Robert A.M. Stern-designed 30 Park Place in Tribeca that’s now also in contract, according to StreetEasy. However, that Hamptons trailer’s price per square foot pales in comparison to that of a nearly 17,550-square-foot penthouse that listed at Central Park Tower in late 2022 for a colossal $250 million — $14,249 per square foot — which would set the record for the priciest home ever sold in the US if it trades hands for that royal sum. Will Gold with The Atlantic Team at Douglas Elliman represented the unidentified buyer.

“The Ditch Plains area in general is very special. It is an oasis for surfers and beachgoers, and in the past several years has been subject to an extraordinary amount of growth and transformation,” Gold told The Post.

The two-bedroom, two-bathroom mobile home was specially built by John Hummel and features upscale finishes with a contemporary beach vibe. The living room and back deck both have 180-degree views of the ocean. Other features include a gas fireplace, a private deck, a grill, and an outdoor shower. The main suite has a private bathroom.

“Especially since COVID, individuals and families have realized the value of oceanfront communities and are paying up for it,” Gold added. “This beachfront row of units in ‘Montauk Shores’ is the perfect exclusive opportunity to enjoy everything Ditch Plains has to offer.”

The transaction is expected to be completed early next month. The neighborhood, on the other hand, has a basketball court, a playground, a recreation center, and swimming pools. The region is known for drawing well-known and wealthy visitors like Jimmy Buffet, who once engaged in a bidding war for a mobile home on the beach. However, for the extremely wealthy, this neighborhood of trailer parks has come to represent an unusual status symbol. Three people have invested in a trailer in the neighborhood: movie producer Karen Lauder, hedge fund manager Dan Loeb, and co-founder of Vitaminwater Darius Bikoff. Apart from the previous record sale, at least 10 mobile homes there have sold in the past year for amounts ranging from $675,000 to $1.4 million. Additionally, the cost of trailers located nearer the beach is higher.

Article from the NY Post

A NYCHA building’s ceiling collapses in Bed-Stuy.

Bed-Stuy residents criticized NYCHA on Saturday for failing to stop a leak that led to a portion of the building’s ceiling collapsing this week. On Wednesday night, Marlene Ritter, a resident of a NYCHA building on Willoughby Avenue, claims she was in bed when she heard a loud crash. She claims to have witnessed a portion of her apartment’s ceiling collapse. “This is sickening, the smell is horrible…I’m embarrassed,” said Ritter. The building’s tenants claim that no repairs have been made since the ceiling collapsed on Wednesday and that they have been without heat or hot water ever since.

January saw an all-time high for Manhattan rents. As a result of a robust job market and a shortage of available apartments, Manhattan’s median rents increased in January, setting a new record. According to a report from Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel, the median rental price in January increased 15% to $4,097 from the year prior. This was the highest monthly figure ever. In Manhattan, the median monthly rent increased by 13% to $5,142 in January 2022. Following record increases in late last year, analysts and real estate specialists had predicted that rents would begin to decline in January. But despite a slowing economy and well-publicized layoffs in finance and technology, Manhattan’s rental market is still in high demand. According to Jonathan Miller, CEO of Miller Samuel, a real estate appraisal and research firm, “We’re not seeing rents fall in any appreciable way.” In reality, they are merely moving sideways. According to analysts, a healthy job market is what primarily drives Manhattan’s rental market. Despite headline-grabbing layoffs at major tech firms and Wall Street banks, New York’s overall job market and wage growth are still strong. More employees might be returning to the city as more people go back to work. New leases increased 9% in January 2022 compared to January 2022 and by 8% over December, indicating that despite high rents, tenants are still willing to pay them. At the same time, despite growth, there are not a lot of apartments available. According to Miller, the vacancy rate, or percentage of apartments available for rent, was 2.5% last month, which is lower than the 3% rate that is more typical for Manhattan.

The rental strength is “a tale of two cities,” according to Joshua Young, executive vice president and managing director of sales and leasing at Brown Harris Stevens. According to him, there is a high demand for brand-new, top-notch rentals that are entering the market in desirable areas, which is resulting in a shortage of luxury apartments. While they wait for the price of apartments to drop, an increasing number of prospective apartment buyers are choosing to rent. They are waiting for rental prices to decrease, he said. They don’t want to be the ones who pay too much for a house that will be worth less in a year. Since many prospective buyers of luxury properties opt to rent, there is a particularly high demand for rentals in this category. According to Miller, there were bidding wars over nearly one in five luxury rentals in January. Analysts predict that rents won’t decrease much, if at all, in the upcoming months unless the job market and economy slow down. In terms of the rental market, “I think 2023 will be just as strong as 2022,” Young said.

Source: CNBC