Fredrik Eklund (right) with developer Zach Vella at 471 Washington Street, on “Million Dollar Listing New York.”

From the May issue: Citi Habitats agent Jason Saft famously appeared on Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of New York” in 2010, while looking for an apartment for cast member LuAnn de Lesseps, a.k.a. Countess LuAnn. The Countess didn’t end up renting an apartment from Saft, but the episode was far from a waste of his time. While on camera, he showed her an apartment at 1 Seventh Avenue South, where he had several listings. In the weeks after the show aired, he said, he saw an enormous uptick in interest in the Greenwich Village building. [more]

Manhattan

The Manhattan residential rental market saw rents increase across all apartment categories, the vacancy rate drop, and concessions recede in April, according to the monthly rental market report from Citi Habitats released today. “If we are able to get these rents and the demand is what it is it really does speak to the economy’s strength,” said Gary Malin, president of Citi Habitats. “In the end, if you want to be in Manhattan, sacrifice is par for the course.” [more]

Manhattan rents in the first quarter of 2012 broke records set before the economic crash, according to market reports released today by residential brokerages Prudential Douglas Elliman and Citi Habitats, and experts attribute the increase to tight credit markets that have prevented tenants from entering the sales market.

The average monthly Manhattan rent reached $3,650 in the first quarter, a 6 percent increase over the $3,445 average during the same period last year, according to the Elliman report, which uses industry-wide data compiled by Jonathan Miller, the president of appraisal firm Miller Samuel. The number of rental transactions also increased, jumping 14.3 percent to 7,642 units from 6,665. [more]

From left: a sign for a psychic and Fay Curtis of Citi Habitats

More and more New Yorkers — including those at the top of their game professionally — are seeking out psychics, real estate brokers among them, the New York Post reported.

Fay Curtis, 49, a broker with Citi Habitats, consults Vanessa Facciola, a Queens-based psychic who works out of hair salons. [more]

From left: Gary Malin, president of Citi Habitats, David Maundrell, president of aptsandlofts.com, Elliman executives Steven James, Kenneth Haber and Wilber Gonzalez and Corcoran agents Sarah Bond and Dario Mannarino

For years, when a licensed New York state real estate broker or salesperson admitted to violating state licensing law, few people would ever know about it.

Each year, dozens of the so-called consent orders were quietly negotiated between the state Department of State, which licenses and regulates New York real estate brokers and agents. While technically public information, the admissions of guilt were not published online and were difficult for the public to obtain. [more]

(source: MNS)

The Manhattan rental market is so strong that it’s broken free of the shackles of seasonality and continued its uninterrupted growth, according to market reports released today by brokerages Citi Habitats and MNS.

The average Manhattan monthly rent was $3,376 in February, according to Citi Habitats, which bases its data on deals its brokers facilitate. That’s just $18, or less than 1 percent, below the all-time peak recorded by the primarily rental brokerage in May 2007. [more]

The Manhattan residential rental market saw an increase in vacancy rates and incentives for tenants, while rents rose from December, in what is usually the slow-as-molasses month of January, according to a monthly rental market report from Citi Habitats released today.

“Absent any seismic changes I think it’s just going to be another strong, stable market for the landlord [this year],” said Gary Malin, president of Citi Habitats. “It would take a real change in the economy to change [the market] to the tenant’s favor.” [more]

Inventory is dwindling for both Manhattan renters and buyers, according to two recent market analyses, and that’s pushing apartment rents and prices higher.

Citi Habitats figures cited by the Wall Street Journal show just 2,230 new rental units will arrive in Manhattan this year, as the construction slowdown during the recession starts to rear its head just as apartment demand is at its highest. Many people have turned to renting in the uncertain economy and the vacancy rate during the typically lax winter months currently sits at just 1.27 percent. [more]

From left: an interior at the Continental and Clifford Finn, president of new development marketing at Citi Habitats

The first year of leasing at the 336-unit rental building the Continental, at 885 Sixth Avenue, saw all the luxury units rented, according to a statement from marketing agent Citi Habitats today.

Though leased out, the amenity-flush, 53-story tower, at 32nd Street, could soon have available units if tenants opt to move, a spokesperson for the building said. The tower was developed by Tower 111 LLC. [more]

Landlords continue to have the upper hand when it comes to Manhattan’s residential rental market, according to fourth-quarter reports released today by brokerages Prudential Douglas Elliman and Citi Habitats. The median asking rent climbed 6.6 percent over the last year, and vacancies were filled at a near-record pace, according to Elliman, while both firms reported a sharp decline in concessions. [more]