From left: 15 CPW, Time Warner Center and the Plaza

Not only is the high-end of the Manhattan housing market healthy, but in some respects it’s performing just as well as it did during the market’s peak, according to the Wall Street Journal. Seven deals worth more than $30 million have been recorded this year, not including Sanford Weill’s recent $88 million sale, the most since 2008 and the third-most ever. Further, the $6,000 per square foot price point that was noteworthy even in 2008 has become somewhat more commonplace, the Journal said.

The astronomical prices are buoyed by a shortage of ultra-luxury apartments, according to brokers, as the world’s wealthiest people are moving assets right now. [more]

From left: Rubicon Property CEO Jason Haber and a rendering of Extell’s One57A lack of new construction, an influx of international buyers and prices still far from peaks have fueled a shortage of high-end apartments in New York City, Bloomberg News reported.

There were 832 homes on the market asking at least $5 million in New York City in October, according to Streeteasy.com, down 9.5 percent from the same time two years ago. Simultaneously, sales of Manhattan luxury apartments increased 17 percent in the third quarter from the prior-year quarter, according to Miller Samuel. There were more sales of at least $20 million in the third quarter this year than during any time since the third quarter of 2008. [more]

Jonathan Miller with his first-ever lobsterFrom the November issue: Most New Yorkers know appraiser Jonathan Miller as the statistics guru who produces quarterly market reports for Prudential Douglas Elliman. Few realize that he’s also a lobster fisherman.

But Miller, the CEO of Miller Samuel Real Estate Appraisers, says the two vastly different specialties sometimes go hand in hand — or claw to claw, as it were.

It all started in 2005, when Miller decided lobster fishing would be a fun activity for his four sons while aboard the family boat, which is anchored on Long Island Sound near their home in Darien, Conn. So he got his lobstering license. [more]
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From the November issue: The autumn leaves are turning, and New York’s fall real estate market may be changing, too.

Autumn has traditionally been one of the busiest times of the year for residential sales, along with spring — the season of tax refunds and bonuses.

But real estate brokers say the fall selling season has declined in importance over the past few years, thanks to factors like the city’s dependence on bonuses and later-than-usual Jewish holidays.

It’s too soon to say whether the shift is permanent, but some say it could be a long-term trend rather than a temporary side effect of the topsy-turvy, post-Lehman economy. [more]

From left: The Douglass, Windows on 123, the Livmor and Parc Standard

Last year real estate insiders and prospective homebuyers worried about the glut of new development inventory in Harlem. But that’s no longer the case, thanks largely to price cuts on the units in those buildings, some of which are selling for less than $500 per square foot.

Many buildings introduced to the market in the last year are now mostly filled. The 72-unit Livmor, the 28-unit Parc Standard and the 38-unit Douglass, all on Frederick Douglass Boulevard, are sold out. Meanwhile, introduced this summer, the 73-unit co-op 88 Morningside is 71 percent sold, the 86-unit Gateway is 90 percent sold and Windows on 123 is on its second phase of sales. [more]

From left: William Beaver House, 25 Broad Street and the Setai Wall Street

Financial District condominium projects have found success since being converted to rentals early this year, according to the Wall Street Journal, although the Occupy Wall Street protests have dampened the trend in recent days.

The 300-unit Sapir Organization-developed William Beaver House, for example, put its 208 unsold units on the rental market this spring, and about 75 percent of them have been leased at a rate of 18 per month and $57 per square-foot.

Similarly, 25 Broad Street, the condo conversion by Kent Swig, went on the rental market earlier this year, and 104 of the 305 units have rented for about $55 per square foot. [more]

Source: Prudential Douglas Elliman

East End residential sales activity and prices grew by double digits in the third quarter of 2011, according to a report released today by Prudential Douglas Elliman, although the increase, as is often the case, was skewed by booming luxury sales and a slow market in the same period last year.

Compared to the third quarter of 2010, home sales in the Hamptons and North Fork jumped 14.7 percent, to 538 from 469, and the median price rose 12 percent, to $700,000 from $625,000, the report says. Following seasonal patterns, sales activity in the third quarter dropped 13.1 percent and the median sale price decreased 8.6 percent over the previous quarter.
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The extremely tight residential rental market in Manhattan may be having a positive impact on sales in Brooklyn. Home sales activity in the Borough of Trees skyrocketed and the median home price showed significant gains, according to a third-quarter market report released today by residential brokerage Prudential Douglas Elliman.

“Brooklyn is showing signs of firm growth,” said Jonathan Miller, CEO of appraisal firm Miller Samuel and preparer of the report. “The key driver of that growth this quarter is the condo market, which I think is benefiting from the high rents in Manhattan combined with the falling interest rates.”

Overall, there were 2,219 sales in Brooklyn during the third quarter, 18.1 percent greater than the number of sales in third quarter of 2010. Simultaneously, median sales price in the third quarter rose 5 percent from the prior-year quarter to $510,000. The growth in those two categories denotes a healthy market, Miller said. [more]

From the October issue: It’s conventional wisdom that low interest rates stimulate home sales, but in today’s roller-coaster economy, conventional wisdom does not seem to apply.

Despite the optimism of real estate and mortgage brokers, analysts say low rates, as a symptom of wider economic malaise, may actually hinder home sales in New York.

“Brokers may use low rates as a reason to [convince clients to] buy, but the flaw with that argument is that you can’t just look at rates and dismiss investors’ confidence,” said Noah Rosenblatt, the founder of Manhattan-based UrbanDigs, a property consulting and analytics firm. The industry headed into autumn with mortgage rates at all-time lows: Freddie Mac reported early last month that 30-year and 15-year fixed-rate mortgages were at historically low levels of 4.12 percent and 3.33 percent, respectively. [more]

Source: Prudential Douglas Elliman (click to enlarge)

In stark contrast from the various economic indicators surrounding it, the
Manhattan rental market showed remarkable stability and strength in the third
quarter. The price of an average Manhattan rental unit increased about 7 percent
from the prior year quarter and remained consistent with the impressive levels
achieved in the second quarter, according to market reports released today by
residential brokerages Prudential Douglas Elliman and Citi Habitats.

“I used to see the rental market as a leading indicator of changing economic
conditions because of how nimble it is,” said Jonathan Miller, CEO of appraisal firm
Miller Samuel who prepared Elliman’s report. “But here the economy is struggling –
or at best, is flat — and conditions are tight in the rental market.” [more]