With the glut of housing data and statistics available, it’s difficult to know which figures give the most accurate representation of home sales and prices. In Manhattan, the disparity between national housing figures, such as average home price and sales, and city numbers can be particularly noticeable. Rather than one national market, there are, in reality, many mini-markets to evaluate, according to broker Douglas Heddings, president of the Manhattan-based Heddings Property Group at Charles Rutenberg Realty. Heddings told Fox Business News that it’s unwise for both homebuyers and mortgage lenders to rely on monthly national data to determine housing trends. The data “can be incredibly confusing to the buying and selling public,” Heddings said. “The lenders looking at all of the [markets] exactly the same is a negative but it is, in fact, the case.”

Second Avenue subway renderings (Source: MTA)

The delay in the construction of the Second Avenue subway — long expected to be
a boon for the Upper East Side real estate market — will not derail
property values over the long-term, but could pose a threat in the
short-term, brokers say. As construction drags on, buyers may be
deterred and prices pushed downward because of worries over further
postponements, the closure of local businesses and the mess of living
near construction sites. Between now and whenever the subway is completed, said Halstead
Property Senior Vice President Rena Goldstein, it could be difficult to
interest buyers in Upper East Side properties east of Third Avenue.
Goldstein said she chose not to show one Second Avenue apartment in the
70s to buyers searching for a pied-à-terre because she knew they didn’t
want to live near construction for the next seven or eight years. “It’s going to be a lot harder to sell property [on the Upper
East Side]… it’s going to be like that for a long time.”

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TrueGotham.com founder Douglas Heddings is departing Prudential Douglas
Elliman, saying the move will allow him greater autonomy for his popular
real estate blog. Heddings, formerly a senior vice president at Elliman, has moved to
relatively new Charles Rutenberg Realty in New York with his four-agent team, the
Heddings Property Group. Heddings, who was named one of the 25 Most Influential Real Estate Bloggers in 2007 by Inman News,
said while Elliman was supportive of his blog — which sometimes
reveals unsavory behavior by brokers or grim predictions about the
economy — there were times when the firm asked him to remove certain
posts. [more]

The most expensive home to hit the market this week is a five-bedroom, five-bath condo at 3 East 95th Street, according to Streeteasy.com. The home is listed with Brown Harris Stevens for $34.9 million. The least expensive home listed this week, according to
Streeteasy.com, is a one-bedroom, one-bath co-op at 2440 Amsterdam
Avenue on the market with the Corcoran Group for $179,000. TRD
[more]