The Real Deal New York

From the January issue: If there was a drip-drip-drip of negative stories about Wall Street in early 2008, by the end of the year, the bad news was coming in a torrent. Stock prices plummeted. Some banks shuttered, and others evaporated through mergers. Thousands of workers were laid off. Year-end bonuses shrank or vanished. Portfolio values dove. Brokers, admittedly, became nervous. After all, employees of the financial industry and their related businesses make up about 25 percent of many brokers’ clientele. If Wall Street is down, the thinking goes, New York real estate suffers a body blow. Of course, precisely how much of an effect Wall Street’s misfortunes are having is tough to measure. For fear of perhaps jeopardizing their client relationships, many real estate brokers are silent on the topic; bankers, hedge fund managers and traders, too, are mostly refusing to talk. But it’s clear from anecdotal evidence that brokers are losing clients, seeing deals fall apart and witnessing unorthodox handlings of contracts.