From the September issue: The Real Estate Board of New York has recently taken several steps to help give its members better access to data in the increasingly digitized world of residential real estate.

As of July 1, REBNY instituted a rule requiring its members to enter sale prices into the group’s back-end listing system (known as the RLS) within 24 hours of a closing.

Also, as The Real Deal has reported, the trade association recently requested bids on a new technology provider to replace its existing R.O.L.E.X. data platform, which brokers complain is slow and frequently inaccurate.

A few years ago, both of these moves might have caused quite a stir in the industry and been hailed as steps towards greater transparency.

Now, however, experts say REBNY is going to have to play catch-up. [more]http://therealdeal.com/newyork/articles/after-losing-ground-online-rebny-plays-catch-up–2

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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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