From the South Florida website: The New York metro area has the nation’s second-highest level of
interest in Miami real estate after Fort Lauderdale, according to
Trulia’s Metro Mover Index. While more Miamians are looking to move out
of the city, New Yorkers have their hearts set on the Magic City,
according to data on Trulia.com page views. Fort Lauderdale is the top
search destination on Trulia.com for people living in Miami. [Miami
New Times] [more]

From left: New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong

The world’s wealthiest individuals are continuing to purchase luxury residential property in key international cities despite fluctuation in the global economic marketplace, according to a report by Christie’s International Real Estate cited by real estate expert and former columnist for The Real Deal Michael Stoler on his blog.

More than 67 percent of Christie’s agents reported an increase in sales activity in the first eight months of 2011 when compared with the same period in 2010, especially in cities like New York, Beverly Hills, London, Paris and Hong Kong. Overall, the homes of the super rich in the top 10 cities worldwide rose by an average of 10 percent in value in the first six months of this year. More than 87 percent of buyers paid cash, the report notes.
[more]

New York City real estate developers may be defrauding the government out of hundreds of millions of dollars every year in unpaid taxes, a retired Internal Revenue Service agent told NY1.
“If I were a resident of New York, I would definitely be outraged,” Jerry Curnutt, the former IRS agent said. “These folks know the rules, and to not pay what you owe is egregious.”
Curnutt said many real estate partnerships in particular are avoiding the taxes they owe. If an individual decides to partner up with someone to develop a property, he said, they get a loan from a lender. They then deduct a portion of that loan each year when they file taxes. However, when they sell the building, they owe the government the cumulative amount they saved from the deductions. [more]

Chinese banks have quietly invested more than $1 billion into New York real estate in the past year, the New York Times reported, as investors pick up luxury apartments and get involved with commercial and residential projects in an effort to diversify their holdings and develop international business relationships.

In the last 12 months, Chinese companies have inked significant leases at the Empire State Building, at 1 World Trade Center, and invested heavily — around $249 million — in Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards. Bank of China also lent $800 million in late 2010 to refinance a building on Park Avenue, the Times said, and doled out $250 million to refinance an office tower at 3 Columbus Circle.

All of these investments seem to pass by without much press attention.  ”It’s truly amazing how much they’ve been able to do without being highlighted in public,” said Dan Fasulo, managing director of Real Capital Analytics. [more]

Russian magnates and other foreign investors are buying up some of the priciest residential real estate in the U.S., Bloomberg News reported, as the weak dollar makes for a bargain purchase. They’re interested primarily in high-profile purchases that will make an impression with their friends back home, sources said.

“Those trophies,” said real estate attorney Edward Mermelstein of recent purchases by foreign investors, “they’re buying them to make a splash. They’ll definitely gravitate to a property that’s higher profile as much as to a property with a long-term investment potential.”

New York, California and Florida are the primary markets popular with Russian buyers, according to Miller Samuel, with more than 65 percent of nationwide properties asking more than $20 million located in those states. [more]

In the New York-White Plains-Wayne area, 10.5 percent, or 119,196, of all residential properties with a mortgage were in negative equity for first quarter 2011, according to new negative equity data released by CoreLogic for the quarter. Nationally, 27 percent, or 10.9 million, of all residential properties with a mortgage were in negative equity at the end of the first quarter of 2011, down slightly from 11.1 million, or 23.1 percent, in the fourth quarter. An additional 2.4 million borrowers had less than five percent equity in the first quarter. Together, negative equity and near-negative equity mortgages accounted for 27.7 percent of all U.S. residential properties with a mortgage. In the previous quarter, these two categories stood at 27.9 percent. TRD [more]

Foreclosure rates in New York-White Plains-Wayne jumped to 5.08 percent in March, according to a report by CoreLogic, up 1.47 percent from March 2010 when the rate was 3.61 percent. Foreclosure activity in the area remains higher than the national average which was 3.57 percent in March this year.

The mortgage delinquency rate in New York-White Plains-Wayne has also increased. According to CoreLogic data, 8.48 percent of mortgage loans were 90 days or more delinquent compared to 8.25 percent for the same period last year. TRD [more]

New York metropolitan area home prices have improved, but still haven’t seen the solid increases of some other markets around the country, according to S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index July data released today. Home sale prices within a 50-mile radius of New York City declined at a slower pace than previous months, according to the index, which gauges values in 20 major U.S. cities. New York-area prices fell 10.3 percent in July from the same month last year, compared to a year-over-year drop of 11.9 percent in June, and 12.2 percent in May. Since the data does not include condo or co-op units, the report primarily reflects home prices in the outer boroughs, Connecticut, New Jersey and Westchester County. New York was one of 13 metropolitan areas showing at least three straight months of price gains, the data shows. New York-area prices inched up 0.8 percent between June and July, and 0.7 percent between May and June after having increased slightly between April and May. Before that, prices had been falling, including a record decline of 2.5 percent between February and March. [more]

Home prices nationwide fell 19.1 percent in the first quarter of 2009
compared to the same period of 2008, according to the
S&P/Case-Shiller home price index for March and the entire first
quarter, released today. The decline is the largest in the index’s
21-year history. In New York, home prices fell 2.5 percent between
February and March of this year, a record drop, and 11.8 percent
year-over-year. The index does not include condos or co-ops, which make
up the bulk of homes in Manhattan. Nationwide, average home prices have
fallen 32.2 percent since their peak in the second quarter of 2006. TRD [more]

Prices of existing single-family homes nationwide showed record declines last year, according to S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices. The December report, released today, shows that in the fourth quarter, home prices fell 18.2 percent compared to the same period in 2007, the largest drop in the past 21 years. Since the data does not include condo or co-op units, the report primarily reflects home prices in the outer boroughs, Westchester County, Connecticut and New Jersey. In New York, the report found, home prices were down 9.2 percent in the fourth quarter compared to the prior year. And between November and December 2008, prices fell 1.7 percent. TRD [more]