Home sales volume remained low in the third quarter of 2011, with 4 percent fewer properties sold citywide than the number sold in the third quarter of 2010, according to data from New York University’s Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, released today. The one-year decline in the number of sales transactions was especially large in Queens, with volume down 9 percent from the third quarter of 2010.

“Sales volume continued to lag in the third quarter of 2011, showing little change since last quarter and remaining well below the sales volumes we’ve seen in the city in the past decade,” said Ingrid Gould Ellen, faculty co-director of the Furman Center. – Katherine Clarke [more]

The New York City home sales volume declined 20 percent between the first and second quarters of the year, and is down 40 percent compared to March through June of 2010, according to a report released today by New York University’s Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy.

Though the sales volume declined, home prices increased citywide by about 6 percent from the first quarter to the second quarter of 2011, but remained 21 percent below their peak in the fourth quarter of 2006. – Miranda Neubauer [more]

Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced his plans to pour another $1 billion into an affordable housing build-up effort during a talk at the New York University’s Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy. Meanwhile, Devonshire House, the pre-war-turned-condo building at 28 East 10th Street, will be the site of a cooking event with Food Network chef and star Alexandra Guarnaschelli, and buyers’ brokerage Elika Associates announced a new partnership today with alchemyRED, a real estate developer and renovation liaison service for homeowners, and Cross It Off Your List, a so-called “relocation and lifestyle management company.” Click here for more. TRD
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Washington politicians and editorial writers throughout the country are bashing banks for foreclosing on hapless homeowners. And, indeed, foreclosures are on the rise. However, an even larger wave of foreclosures is coming to New York City, say experts who base their predictions on rising default rates, combined with the difficulty of refinancing underwater homes. The increasing numbers of distressed properties, they say, portend a substantial decline in property values throughout the city. “If you are looking at the statistics, it cannot possibly have hit bottom,” says Joshua Stein, a partner in the real estate practice group of Latham & Watkins, and chair of the education committee of the Mortgage Bankers Association of New York. [more]