A screenshot of a building's activity tab

The real estate website Streeteasy.com today launched expanded features, including data from the city’s Department of Buildings. Streeteasy.com, launched in 2006 for brokers and homebuyers, has long linked property listings with recorded sales from the city’s online Automated City Register Information System, known as ACRIS. Now, the site has added data from the buildings department, including construction permits and complaints, as well as mortgage documents and other additional information from ACRIS filings. [more]

From left: Rubicon Property CEO Jason Haber and a rendering of Extell’s One57A lack of new construction, an influx of international buyers and prices still far from peaks have fueled a shortage of high-end apartments in New York City, Bloomberg News reported.

There were 832 homes on the market asking at least $5 million in New York City in October, according to Streeteasy.com, down 9.5 percent from the same time two years ago. Simultaneously, sales of Manhattan luxury apartments increased 17 percent in the third quarter from the prior-year quarter, according to Miller Samuel. There were more sales of at least $20 million in the third quarter this year than during any time since the third quarter of 2008. [more]

From the November issue: The autumn leaves are turning, and New York’s fall real estate market may be changing, too.

Autumn has traditionally been one of the busiest times of the year for residential sales, along with spring — the season of tax refunds and bonuses.

But real estate brokers say the fall selling season has declined in importance over the past few years, thanks to factors like the city’s dependence on bonuses and later-than-usual Jewish holidays.

It’s too soon to say whether the shift is permanent, but some say it could be a long-term trend rather than a temporary side effect of the topsy-turvy, post-Lehman economy. [more]

From the October issue: It’s conventional wisdom that low interest rates stimulate home sales, but in today’s roller-coaster economy, conventional wisdom does not seem to apply.

Despite the optimism of real estate and mortgage brokers, analysts say low rates, as a symptom of wider economic malaise, may actually hinder home sales in New York.

“Brokers may use low rates as a reason to [convince clients to] buy, but the flaw with that argument is that you can’t just look at rates and dismiss investors’ confidence,” said Noah Rosenblatt, the founder of Manhattan-based UrbanDigs, a property consulting and analytics firm. The industry headed into autumn with mortgage rates at all-time lows: Freddie Mac reported early last month that 30-year and 15-year fixed-rate mortgages were at historically low levels of 4.12 percent and 3.33 percent, respectively. [more]

Noah Rosenblatt, founder of UrbanDigs

Noah Rosenblatt, founder of Manhattan market trends analytics site UrbanDigs, launched a new flat fee buyer consulting service today. He said the service aims to help home seekers find properties’ true market value, and will then guide them through the buying and negotiating process, starting with the opening bid. Rosenblatt said the service is aimed at buyers who don’t trust brokers and want an independent advisor. “There’s a perception that there should be a little bit less conflict of interest, a little less incentive for the buyer’s broker to get the buyer to bid as high as possible and get the deal done and collect commission,” said Rosenblatt, who has continued to serve as a traditional buyer’s broker since leaving Halstead Property in 2009. “There’s a need for an independent consulting service.” [more]

Most industry insiders recognize that residential market reports can be deceptive — but few would assume that city records could be to blame for skewed sales data. According to Noah Rosenblatt, head of real estate tracking site UrbanDigs.com, the lag time between when a residential sale is filed with the city and when it’s recorded on public record is great enough to distort monthly and quarterly reports. “We all know that when a transaction closes the deal is done and should be available for use as a comparable sale,” Rosenblatt said. “But when it gets recorded as public record is another story.” [more]

The luxury Manhattan residential market is ending on an optimistic note this year, with nine apartments asking more than $4 million going into contract last week, Crain’s reported. That’s up from zero apartments of that caliber during the Christmas week last year, according to Olshan Realty, which has been tracking the high-end market for years for its clients but only began releasing its data to the public last month. [more]

Nationwide foreclosure activity may be en route to a slowdown, according to RealtyTrac’s April foreclosure market report, but it’s going to be a rough road getting there (click here to see full report).

Overall foreclosure filings, including default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions, otherwise known as “REOs” or real estate owned properties, have declined 9 percent from March and 2 percent from April 2009.

The number of default notices filed throughout the country decreased 12 percent over the previous month and 27 percent compared to April 2009, the report, released today, shows. [more]

From left: Faith Hope Consolo of Prudential Douglas Elliman, Noah Rosenblatt of UrbanDigs.com, Pamela Liebman of the Corcoran Group

As part of its 2010 “Neighborhoods Issue,” New York Magazine asked 10 real estate experts about their picks for the New York City nabes that will offer buyers the most bang for their buck by 2014. Pam Liebman, president and CEO of the Corcoran Group said West Harlem, while Streeteasy.com’s Sofia Song chose Morningside Heights. Melissa Cohn, president of Manhattan Mortgage, said that while southern Yorkville “hasn’t been popular in years,” it’s likely to appreciate in price over the next five years with the advent of the Second Avenue subway line. Retail veteran Faith Hope Consolo of Prudential Douglas Elliman picked the Garment District, where storefront leases are being snapped up west of Penn Station and there are plenty of new condominiums to house their customers. Noah Rosenblatt of UrbanDigs.com chose the Financial District and Jed Walentas of Two Trees Management chose the Far West Side, in the 50s. Other experts had their eyes on the outer boroughs’ Flushing, Bushwick and Prospect Heights neighborhoods. [NY Mag] [more]

Noah Rosenblatt, founder of UrbanDigs

UrbanDigs.com is about a month away from launching a real-time Manhattan residential market analytics platform, a data service that reports market trends and figures.
Noah Rosenblatt, founder of brokerage and real estate research Web site UrbanDigs, said that the analytics program will run through a partnership with real estate database service RealPlus, and will feature a suite of user-friendly analytical tools. The program will be free, with an option to pay an approximately $15-per-month subscription fee for additional features.
Rosenblatt said that “the desire for more transparency” motivated him to pursue the analytics platform. While he wouldn’t say what specific market indicators will be analyzed until the platform goes live in the first week of May, he said that the platform will look at “every metric worth following in this market.” [more]