The May issue is live!

Sure, the Manhattan luxury condominium market may have softened a bit. But that doesn’t mean the city’s top residential brokerages aren’t still growing and prospering.

The Real Deal’s May issue features our annual ranking of the top residential firms in the borough, with Howard Lorber’s Douglas Elliman continuing to dominate and its top rival, Pamela Liebman’s Corcoran Group, not too far behind.

Sotheby’s International Realty continues to lead the mid-sized brokerages, while Dolly Lenz’s eponymous firm sets the pace in the boutique sector. And of course, a deal is only worth the paper it’s on until it closes – so we took stock of which firms actually sealed the most deals.

Elsewhere, we look at how family-led, private lending firms are filling the financing void left in today’s market by retreating, risk-averse banks; take stock of the highest-paid chief executives in real estate; and examine the self-destruction of the once-proud Morgans Hotel Group.

We also explore how Donald Trump’s kids would run the family empire were their dad to become occupied with more presidential matters, profile private equity giant Apollo Global Management, and document the extent to which real estate executives have helped Mayor Bill de Blasio raise money.

Finally, in the Closing interview, Somerset Partners founder Keith Rubenstein talks about the 1970 NBA Finals, why he didn’t go the medical school and that star-studded party he threw in the South Bronx.

To read the May issue of The Real Deal, click here or on the “Magazine” tab on the top left of the homepage. Enjoy. – Rey Mashayekhi