Low interest rates, good deals and first-time homebuyers — some
spurred by federal tax credits — helped cause a spike in real estate
sales and stabilize prices in the second quarter of 2010, according to Manhattan mark [more]

Lisa Taylor

Broker Lisa Taylor has left the Corcoran Group behind for Brown Harris Stevens, where she has been named vice president associa [more]

Lisa Taylor

Broker Lisa Taylor has left the Corcoran Group behind for Brown Harris Stevens, where she has been named vice president associa [more]

From the May issue: A year ago this month, New York’s real estate community experienced one of the darker moments of the recession when Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy — one of the city’s largest and most established firms — announced it would close. However, CBHK turned out to be the only major firm that disappeared. Business, meanwhile, has steadily improved for months. “New York has had a very good rebound,” said Pamela Liebman, CEO of the Corcoran Group. [more]

Hall Willkie, president of Brown Harris Stevens, said he’s seeing an increase in activity in the $2 to $10 million market

The Manhattan residential real estate market continued its slow
improvement in the first quarter of 2010, according to market reports
released today by the city’s major real estate brokerages. While prices were still far below last year’s levels, they were up from
the previous quarter and the number of closed sales nearly doubled from
the first quarter of 2009. “It’s not the market it was, but relative to last year, it’s improved,”
said appraiser Jonathan Miller, president and CEO of Miller Samuel and
the preparer of Prudential Douglas Elliman’s report (see some of thel market reports after the jump). [more]

Click map for larger version (Source: PropertyShark)

An uptick in sales activity has slowed the once-rapid decline in the Manhattan real estate market, according to fourth-quarter 2009 market reports released by the city’s major brokerages today (see reports after the jump), though experts still fear a double-dip in prices. Sales activity jumped and inventory shrank in the fourth quarter, the reports show, though prices were still far below 2008 levels. Experts attributed the positive signs to low interest rates, pent-up demand from a slow winter, and falling prices. “This surge in activity and sharp drop in inventory has stopped prices from essentially hemorrhaging,” said appraiser Jonathan Miller, president and CEO of Miller Samuel and the preparer of Prudential Douglas Elliman’s fourth-quarter report. “We’re looking at a much more modest decline.”  More

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From left: Hall Willkie, Diane Ramirez, Dottie Herman and Barak Dunayer

New York City real estate is headed for momentous changes, for better or worse, industry leaders say. “We’re not going to recognize our industry when we’re through these
next few years — in a good way,” said Hall Willkie, president of Brown
Harris Stevens, speaking on a panel discussion last night as part of
REBNY’s 2009 Real Estate Master Series. Other panelists included Diane Ramirez, president of BHS sister company
Halstead Property; Dottie Herman, president and CEO of Prudential
Douglas Elliman; and Barak Dunayer, president of Barak Realty. Jeffrey
Appel, senior vice president and director of new development financing
at Preferred Empire Mortgage Company, moderated the discussion.
[more]