New York State’s rent-regulation law, which governs the rents for more than one million stabilized apartments in New York City, expires June 15, but Democrats are already speaking out against it in its original form, the Observer reported. State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver believes that rent regulation must be renewed and strengthened in favor of tenants. If it isn’t, he will not support the renewal of a tax incentive that expired in December and was embraced by apartment developers. “We shouldn’t be extending a tax break for residential developers without making sure we are strengthening protections for the tenants who live in their buildings,” Silver said in a statement last month. [more]

Frustrated with increasing property taxes on rental apartment buildings, New York City developers and contractors are warning the Bloomberg administration that if it doesn’t change its tax policy, development of new rental buildings will stop, the Wall Street Journal reported. The increase has become a particular concern for owners of rentals built within the past two decades with 20 percent of their units set aside for low-income families. If taxes continue to outpace revenue, the Real Estate Board of New York says new development of these projects will not be possible. [more]

Brooklyn Assembly member Darryl Towns was appointed to serve as Commissioner and CEO of New York State Homes and Community Renewal, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced today. Under the consolidation of New York state housing programs, the commissioner also serves as chief executive of the state’s major housing and community renewal agencies, including the Housing Finance Agency and State of New York Mortgage Agency. Since 1992, Towns has represented the 54th Assembly District in Brooklyn. TRD [more]

From left: Nest Seeker’s CEO Eddie Shapiro and REBNY President Steven Spinola

In an unusual move, the Real Estate Board of New York sent a mass e-mail to more than 500 members notifying them that the trade group had fined the residential brokerage Nest Seekers International $5,000 for laying claim to another broker’s exclusive listing.

Several residential real estate insiders said it was the first time they had received a mass e-mail from REBNY notifying them publicly about a punishment. But at the same time, they said Nest Seekers was deserving of a sanction because it has often improperly put other firm’s exclusives on its own site.

REBNY, the city’s leading real estate trade organization, sent the notice of the fine yesterday afternoon to residential brokers. [more]

From left: REBNY President Steven Spinola, Rep. Anthony Weiner, Warburg President Frederick Peters, Elaine Mayers of Citi Habitats and Stacey Max of Bellmarc Realty

Tuesday’s approval of an amendment to a proposed Federal Housing Finance Agency ruling dealing with flip taxes could keep lenders from abandoning the New York City residential market in the future, according to industry experts.

The amendment pared down an earlier FHFA provision, announced in fall 2010, which would have barred government-sponsored Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from lending in all multi-family buildings in which a flip tax is written into the contract. In its original form, the proposal could have adversely affected roughly 50 percent of the New York City residential stock, according to Real Estate Board of New York President Steven Spinola.

The amendment was passed as part of a larger proposal that is still winding its way through the approval process. [more]

Top: Protesters at the REBNY event; bottom, from left: Mary Ann Tighe, Douglas Durst and Rob Speyer

The Real Estate Board of New York’s annual banquet — the most high-profile event of the year for the industry — last night was marred by the shouts of protesters.

A group of about 30 people inside the New York Hilton, where the glitzy event was being held, chanted: “Hey you millionaires, pay your fair share!”

Before being escorted off the property by hotel staff, the protesters handed out fliers stating their opposition to the Committee to Save New York, a group of business leaders formed in support of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s campaign to oppose tax increases, reduce the size of government and reform Medicaid and pensions for public employees. Donors to the committee include a number of prominent real estate figures, including Tishman Speyer Properties and the Durst Organization. Tishman Speyer’s Rob Speyer is the co-chair of the committee’s board of directors, which also includes REBNY President Steven Spinola and REBNY Chairman Mary Ann Tighe. Tighe, Spinola, Rob Speyer and Douglas Durst all attended the banquet. [more]

Promoting the construction of the No. 7 subway line and curbing “unnecessary designation of landmark districts” are among the goals the Real Estate Board of New York has laid out for 2011, the trade organization said today. Among the other items on the REBNY docket are closer monitoring of rent regulation programs and establishing industry protocol for dealing with Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act lawsuits. Steven Spinola, president of REBNY, said that the group would also be promoting more conservative government involvement in the real estate industry. TRD [more]

The average apartment price in Manhattan climbed to $1.38 million, up 10 percent, in the fourth quarter compared to fourth-quarter 2009, according to a new report by ResidentialNYC.com, the public real estate listings site of the Real Estate Board of New York. Meanwhile, citywide, the average apartment price climbed 13 percent during the same time period, to $889,000. Despite these rising prices, transaction volume citywide declined 24 percent year-over-year, down to 8,800 from 11,600 during fourth-quarter 2009. TRD [more]

From left: Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver, Assemblyman Vito Lopez and Gov. Andrew CuomoDemocratic leaders in the State Assembly are indicating that they are ready to throw their support behind a cap on local property taxes, according to the New York Times. The cap, which already has backing from the Republican-led Senate, is popular with voters in New York’s suburbs, who pay some of the highest property taxes in the country. But in return for their support, Democrats are requesting stricter rent regulations for New York City, a measure which is strongly opposed by Republicans and the real estate interests that helped Governor Andrew Cuomo get elected. [more]

From left: Dottie Herman, Pamela Liebman, Mary Ann Tighe and Steven Spinola

Prudential Douglas Elliman’s Dottie Herman, Real Estate Board of New York’s Steven Spinola, CB Richard Ellis’ Mary Ann Tighe and Pamela Liebman of the Corcoran Group ranked on Inman’s annual list of the most influential players in the real estate world, based on readers’ votes. The list comprises 100 leaders who either work in real estate or whose work impacts the industry, including brokers, technologists, multiple listing service representatives, government officials, journalists, economists, academics and financial services executives. Other notable winners were Stan Humphries, chief economist at Zillow; Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s; Pete Flint, co-founder and CEO of Trulia; Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors; and Kenneth Harney, columnist for the Washington Post. TRD’s own Web editor, Lauren Elkies, was nominated in the media category, in which Curbed founder Lockhart Steele was one of the winners (Inman is an investor in Curbed.com). Click here to see the full list. TRD [more]