Brownstones in Greenpoint
Brooklyn and Queens are both suffering from a squeaky tight inventory of homes, although only Brooklyn is seeing the fallout – plummeting sales and skyrocketing prices, according to market reports released today by leading brokerages.
The plummet in Brooklyn sales coincides with the largest year-over-year inventory decline on record, Douglas Elliman’s first-quarter sales report shows. Queens suffered its biggest supply drop since 2005. [more]
Abandoned tracks in Queens
The Trust of Public Land has issued requests for proposals to conduct a feasibility study on a 3.5-mile stretch of abandoned rail line in Queens that many people want to turn into the borough’s version of the High Line, DNAinfo reported.
Marc Matsil, New York State director for the Trust for Public Land, which is championing the project, told DNAinfo the winner will be picked in the next couple of months. One of the goals, he said, will be to generate support for the project among elected officials and the Queens community. [more]
Flushing Meadows-Corona Park soccer stadium
Three crucial unions have announced their support for a proposed Major League Soccer stadium in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, DNAinfo reported. The MLS estimated that the stadium could create up to 2,300 construction jobs, as well as 160 full-time jobs and 750 part-time jobs. [more]
New York City
Sales inventory in new development projects across Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens was down year-over-year in October, Crain’s reported, citing a Streeteasy.com report. But the number of these listings in Manhattan is on the upswing — rising more than 10 percent in the pat six months — even as they continue to fall in Queens and Brooklyn.
The inventory declines have increased prices, however. Broken down by borough, Brooklyn saw a 52.7 percent year-over-year fall in inventory to 276 from 583 a year earlier. In Queens the number declined 52.6 percent year-over-year to 108 from 228. [more]
From left: First Residential Vice President Guillermina Chaux and a block in Jamaica (credit: Google)
Queens led the city in residential foreclosures during the economic downturn, and once again lenders are having trouble in the borough that saw an uptick in foreclosure filings in the first quarter of the year.
A survey by The Real Deal of Queens’ most active lenders of loans insured by the U.S. Federal Housing Administration, a division of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, found several with delinquency rates above the norm; but one lender stood out for having far more defaults than the others. [more]
Tenants at 90-36 149th Street in Jamaica, Queens, are suing landlord Zara Realty after they were charged lump sums for capital improvements made to their building, the New York Daily News reported.
Long-time tenants at the rent-stabilized building say they were charged the increase in one installment because the landlord wants to force out lower-income residents. Charges included $145 to replace windows that were broken during construction, according to tenants.
The suit says tenants were charged more upfront than the landlord was entitled to collect, and that repairs tenants should not have to pay for were billed to residents.
… [more]
The City Council today approved the rezoning of Sunnyside and Woodside, which aims to protect the lower-density character of those neighborhoods while allowing for a moderate increase in residential and commercial density along main corridors, according to the Department of City Planning. Encompassing about 130 city blocks, the zoning area had been unchanged since 1961. With the neighborhood growing and becoming more diverse, the current zoning can result in unpredictable building types leading to out-of-character construction, according to the Department of City Planning. – Miranda Neubauer … [more]
The Bloomberg administration granted permission yesterday for the construction of two highway off-ramps for the Van Wyck Expressway that city officials had slated as essential for the redevelopment of Willets Point in Queens, according to Crain’s.
Several Willets Point property owners had been attempting to stall the redevelopment project, claiming that the city had pledged not to condemn state land until the ramps had been okayed. A New York City Economic Development Corp. spokesperson said that the procedural hurdle had now been overcome, and they could move on to the required public review process…. [more]
The Landmarks Preservation Commission rejected the Queens West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills as a candidate for preservation yesterday, according to Crain’s. The reason, the commission stated in a letter, was that “the condition of [the stadium’s] architectural features has rendered it ineligible.” LPC cited spalling, or flaking, to the arches, crumbling concrete throughout the structure and water damage.
… [more]
After an erratic several months in Brooklyn and Queens, due largely to pent up demand and the first-time homebuyer tax credit, the residential market in the two boroughs may be stabilizing, according to a Prudential Douglas Elliman report covering both boroughs released today.
The median residential sales prices climbed in the fourth quarter compared to the same three months in 2009, while the number of sales dropped in both boroughs.
In Brooklyn, the figure rose 6.2 percent to $475,000, while sales dropped 29.9 percent to 1,468 from 2,093. In Queens, meanwhile, the price increased 5.4 percent to $369,000, as home sales plummeted 41.7 percent. Last quarter saw 2,483 sales in Queens, compared to 4,260 during fourth-quarter 2009…. [more]
For NYC real estate updates provide email below
