Trouble at the top, lonely at the Plaza … and more

1. Inventory of trophy apartments keeps shrinking [NYT]
2. First residents of the Plaza find it a lonely place [NYT]
3. New buyers might be finding good prices, but getting a
mortgage is a different story [NYT]
4. Rental market shows strength in New Jersey [NYT]
5. The saga of Pier 40 [AP via AMNY]
6. Short sales become popular on Long
Island [NYT]
7. If housing prices drop 10 percent, 15 million homes will be
worth less than what’s owed on their mortgages [NYDN]
8. More Americans have negative equity in their home [WSJ]
9. Miss America ’98 tries to find a low mortgage for her new East Harlem co-op [NYDN]
10. Housing starts remained near a 16-year low in January [Bloomberg]
11. New Jersey’s Atlantic County was one of only 11 metro areas
surveyed by the National Association of Realtors that showed a double-digit
annual price gain [Star-Ledger]
12. Former CEO of Bear Stearns paid $2.4 million for a condo at
the Plaza [NYDN]
13. Yankee Stadium’s construction has been a boon for Bronx contractors [Post]
14. At the International Builders Show in Orlando, the glamorous gave way to the practical [WSJ]
15. In Bethel,
Conn., 18th-century Colonials mix
with 1960s ranches houses [NYT]
16. Mortgage ads remain upbeat [NYT]