WeWork’s Dock 72 location off to slow start, Keller Williams product chief is out

Every weekday The Real Deal rounds up New York’s biggest real estate news. We update this page throughout the day, starting at 9 a.m. Please send any tips or deals to tips@therealdeal.com

This page was last updated at 9 a.m.

WeWork has been slow to lease out space at new its new Navy Yard location. The embattled co-working company has reportedly leased just 40 percent of office space since Rudin Management Company and Boston Properties’ building opened in October, and interest has been low. [Crain’s]

Keller Williams product chief is out. Neil Dholakia, Keller Williams’ chief product officer, is leaving the firm after two and a half years. KW initially denied the departure, which comes in the midst of the brokerage’s big technology push. [Inman]

An attorney claims there’s a workaround to the $20 application fee cap. Lisa Faham-Selzer says a dual agency agreement she developed will allow agents and brokerage firms to continue collecting application fees as they did before the rent law change. Others aren’t so sure. [TRD]

WeWork’s saga will hit the big screen. The dramatic rise and fall of WeWork is about to be made into a movie, to be written by “The Big Short” screenwriter Charles Randolph. After reaching a $47 billion valuation earlier this year, the co-working giant’s attempt to go public brought it under scrutiny from investors and the public markets. Ultimately, WeWork pulled its IPO plans, co-founder Adam Neumann was pushed out, and its biggest investor, SoftBank, took over the firm at a valuation below $8 billion. [Crain’s]

Stellar Management’s reputation varies depending on who you ask. Some view the active landlord as a well-oiled machine, while others see its track record with tenants as egregious. The landlord has kept a low profile compared to its peers, but its presence is difficult to ignore: It has 12 million square feet of multifamily holdings in New York City, plus 2 million square feet in office space. [TRD]

Next year is expected to be tough on the housing market. A forecast suggests home sales will drop and prices will flatten, and that prices will drop in a quarter of the nation’s top 100 metro areas. Those include Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Miami and San Francisco. [CNBC]

The median age of U.S. homebuyers is now 47. Deutsche Bank says the median age — compared with 31 in 1981 — comes down to student debt, lending standards and an aging population. [Crain’s]

A new Flushing development dwarfs November’s next five largest combined. Yuk Ming Yip’s roughly 664,000-square-foot, 368-unit megaproject in Flushing was the largest plan filed in November. But Manhattan developments dominate the rest of the top 10 list. [TRD]

Cindy Crawford is sizing up $10 million Manhattan penthouse. The supermodel and her husband reportedly toured the penthouse at 199 Mott St before Thanksgiving. [NYP]

Vornado Realty Trust landed an $800 million loan on 650 Madison. Four banks have refinanced previous acquisition debt on the Vornado project with the financing, which is being securitized. [TRD]

Sapir Corp.’s stock drops in Tel Aviv. In the last week, Alex Sapir’s real estate company, which trades on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, saw its stock price fall by about 18 percent from its pre-earnings price of 508 shekels on Nov. 28 to 414.9 shekels as of Wednesday. [TRD]

Airbnb purges Boston listings. The vacation rental startup significantly shrank its footprint in Boston by deactivating thousands of listings to comply with a new city law requiring, among other things, that short-term rental hosts register with the city before appearing on sites like Airbnb. [Wired]