Source: Streeteasy.com (chart refers to new developments only)

Inventory is declining and asking prices are rising for new development sales throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, according to a new development market report released today by Streeteasy.com. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Williamsburg, the only neighborhood outside Manhattan with median asking prices surpassing $1 million in April. That milestone was achieved on the back of a 53.2 percent year-over-year increase that pushed median asking prices to $1.07 million for the 76 remaining sponsor units in the neighborhood, a 51.6 percent reduction. [more]

210 East 35th Street

After several years of delays, Iconic Development’s Sonu Arora has begun converting a former glass factory in Murray Hill into an 11-unit condo, Arora told The Real Deal today.

Plans for the six-story building, located at 210 East 35th Street between Second and Third avenues, call for ten 950-square-foot one-bedroom units and a 1,250-square-foot, two-bedroom penthouse. Arora said he expects construction to be complete by the summer of 2013. Marketing is scheduled to begin this fall. [more]

From left: Michael Guerra, Elliman’s Brooklyn managing director, and Frank Percesepe, Corcoran’s Brooklyn senior regional vice president

Home prices and transaction volume in Brooklyn and Queens were down in the first quarter of 2012 compared to the same period last year, according to market reports released today by residential brokerages Prudential Douglas Elliman and the Corcoran Group, although the overall picture shows stability.

In Brooklyn, the median sales price dropped 5.3 percent to $450,000 from $475,000 in the same period last year, while the number of sales tumbled 23.9 percent to 1,807 from 2,373 sales, the Elliman report says. Corcoran pegged the median sales price at $428,000, a 2 percent decline over the same period last year. [more]

From left: Halstead Property Development Marketing President Stephen Kliegerman and Citi Habitats President Gary MalinCiti Habitats President Gary Malin and Halstead Property Development Marketing President Stephen Kliegerman whipped out their crystal balls for amNY and noted five trends to watch for in the city’s “booming” real estate market in 2012.

Low interest rates, the strong rental market and the stock market’s daily swings will attract Wall Street investment to new developments, which Malin and Kliegerman say will become more prevalent next year. As for those new buildings, developers will likely offer deals on apartments in buildings that haven’t even begun construction yet in order to kick off sales. [more]

Manhattan median sales prices (source: MNS, click image to enlarge and see more charts)

Though new development sales slowed severely in Manhattan and Brooklyn in recent months, prices are mostly on the upswing, according to third quarter Manhattan and Brooklyn new development sales reports released today by residential brokerage MNS.

In Manhattan, the number of sponsor sales recorded in public records declined 18 percent from the second quarter, while in Brooklyn that figure fell off a cliff, to the tune of a 34 percent drop. However, the median sales price per square foot in that same period rose 4 percent in Manhattan to $1,243, and 3 percent in Brooklyn to $594. As for overall sales figures, in Manhattan the median price gained 10 percent since the third quarter of 2010 to about $1.5 million, and in Brooklyn it rose 7 percent to about $600,000. – Adam Fusfeld [more]

Alchemy Properties’ Kenneth Horn at his under-construction 57-unit condo at 15th Street and Fifth AvenueFrom the September issue: At the height of the boom, The Real Deal often wrote of the developers of massive condominium towers one-upping each other with newer, bigger buildings and the next best over-the-top amenity.
At Midtown’s 220-unit Platinum, there was the golf simulator and the massage room. At the 258-unit Riverhouse in Battery Park City, there was the pet spa. And at the Financial District’s 319-unit William Beaver House, basketball and squash courts, a hot tub and an outdoor shower were all part of the original attempts to woo buyers.
How things have changed. Now, with much of the inventory from the boom era’s mega-condos sold off, boutique buildings with fewer amenities are dominating the new development sales market. [more]

1212 Fifth AvenueFrom the September issue: When the stock market is plummeting and panicked investors are pouring money into gold, it would seem a less-than-prudent moment to predict the next cycle of new residential development in New York City. But despite the economic turmoil, some New York City developers and their consultants are holding fast to the theory that the increasing demand for living space in the city means that it’s a good time to bet on new residential buildings.

“We’re starting to see purchasers willing to pay, if not above-peak prices, pretty close to peak — where they were in the second quarter of 2008,” said Kelly Kennedy Mack, president of Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group. Developers “are optimistic about future market conditions. … They have a real appetite to jump back in after sitting on the sidelines” during the downturn. [more]

The Hunters Point section of Long Island City is experiencing a boom in new development, NY1 reported, with $700 million of construction happening inlcuding four new residential towers in the works.

“This all used to be industrial waterfront, much of it abandoned. Now we have 10 acres of beautiful waterfront park land, five residential buildings, a public school and a lot more coming on the way,” said President Paul Januszewski of the Queens West Development Corporation.

Since development began in 1997, Januszewski said, Hunter’s Point has experienced a major transformation. By the time of its completion in 2013, the area will have 11 residential buildings, two public schools, a park and a public library. [more]

Reade57From the April issue: In a city defined by soaring skyscrapers, a 20-story condominium is hardly considered a towering giant. But in Tribeca, a neighborhood marked by low-rise buildings and sprawling lofts, the New Modernist, glass-construction Reade57, a high-rise with smaller-scale apartments, will stand apart as a residential alternative in the area. At least that’s what its developers, the John Buck Company, are hoping. The Chicago-based firm, the builders behind the swanky Standard Hotel in the Meatpacking District, plans to launch sales at the 84-unit condo in the middle of next month, with Brown Harris Stevens Select serving as the exclusive marketing agent. [more]

After months of rapidly dropping prices in Manhattan’s residential market, more brokers say they’re seeing seeing stabilization across all types of housing stock, according to Crain’s. The rebound has been so pronounced that some brokers, like Marketing Directors CEO Adrienne Albert, are even raising prices on new development units. Albert, who recently boosted prices by 3 percent to 5 percent at the 44-unit Apex condominium in Harlem, said she’s one of many who are feeling more bullish. [more]