By Kim Velsey 4/30 1:03pm

Market Madness

Spring sales: there's just something in the air (orchidgalore, flickr)

Fire Sale! Luxury Home Contracts Were Raging Last Week

Ah, spring! The season of warm breezes, blossoming trees and brisk home sales is upon us. And last week saw a flurry of activity, with 22 contracts signed for homes $4 million and above, according to the Olshan Luxury Market report.

The number was a luxury market record for 2012, with the biggest contract signed for the $22 million duplex co-op at 88 Central Park West (12 room duplex co-op, park views, 6,000-square feet). However, most of the action was happening downtown and most of it involved condos (10 of the 22 contracts signed were for downtown condos). Read More

By Kim Velsey 4/20 2:06pm

Red Carpet Real Estate

She can't settle down (Chesi - Photos CC, flickr)

Jennifer Aniston Breaks Up With West Village Condos

Sometimes you have to say goodbye— relationships fail, love fades, and it comes time to leave the pair of West Village condos that you thought you’d be with forever.

Our favorite Friend Jennifer Aniston has sold her pair of apartments at 299 W. 12th Street for $6.5 million, the New York Post reports. And apparently she was somewhat desperate to be rid of them, letting them go at a $500,000 loss. Read More

By Matt Chaban 3/19 11:32am

Manhattan Transfers

One_Brooklyn_Bridge_Park

Nina Collins, Author and Seller of Record-Breaking Townhouse, Moves to One Brooklyn Bridge Park

When Nina Lorez Collins and her husband moved into 212 Columbia Heights in 2005, The Times declared that “the Manhattanization of Brooklyn took a great leap past the point of no return.” One violent divorce later, Ms. Collins, a once celebrated literary agent, put the house on the market last fall. The listing bragged of “harbor views from every floor,” which helped it fetch a record $11 million, the most ever paid for a home in Brooklyn Heights.

So would Ms. Collins be returning to Manhattan after her journey in the wilderness? It turns out she could not even abandon those harbor views, as she has moved down the hill to One Brooklyn Bridge Park, the hulking Jehovah’s Witnesses printing plant turned condo complex. Read More

By Elise Knutsen 10/10/11 10:42am

Foreign Affairs

Give us your tired, your weary, your wealthy.

Barbarians at the Door: 1-in-3 Condos Bought by Foreigners

Wonder why luxury real estate is so expensive and hard to find these days? Blame the foreigners!

A report from Stribling released Friday gives some hard numbers to something New Yorkers have been complaining for years: foreigners are buying up all the best apartments. According to Crain’s, the brokerage claims that about 33 percent of all condo purchasers and 15 percent of all buyers in New York City are from other countries. Read More

By Matt Chaban 9/19/11 12:14pm

Troubling Developments

We're missing our siblings. (Brownstoner)

Make No Big Plans: The End of the Mega Project Era

Hudson Yards. Atlantic Yards. The Williamsburg waterfront. For the past decade, residential development has been defined by the creation and conversion of soaring condo towers across the city. From Extell’s Ariel twins on the Upper West Side to so many of the Financial District’s former office buildings, this was the way we built, the way we were to live. But the era of the condo project is over Read More

By Tom Acitelli 9/06/11 8:14pm

Our City Since

The Fresh Direct fridge goes here.

Glass Action: The Condo Since 9/11

One winter evening in 2006, host Martin Bashir’s voice intoned over the opening of Nightline: “Meet the brash, young real estate assassin, selling lavish dream apartments to clients with money to burn.”

The TV screen bled to an earnest-looking Michael Shvo. “When you see a photo of the New York skyline,” the 32-year-old informed us, “these are buildings I made happen.”

And what made Mr. Shvo happen? Read More

By Pamela Engel 7/14/11 11:43am

apartments

The Edge, a rendering.

Williamsburg, Greenpoint Home Sales Jump—Why?

Surprise, surprise—the new Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel report shows that North Brooklyn home sales have more than tripled during the past year, which is just further evidence of expansion in an area that’s growing in popularity with the young people.

Sales in North Brooklyn, which includes Williamsburg and Greenpoint, went from 127 units at this time last year to 402 units in the second quarter of 2011, a significant increase that could partly be attributed to trendy new condo development The Edge. The complex has 565 units and, according to its website, is more than 50 percent sold. Read More

By Matt Chaban 7/13/11 8:58am

Parties

Seal in '06. Those were the days.

Salesmanship in D Minor: The Real Estate Party Returns, In a Way

Gregory Spock is used to performing librettos before rapt audiences in concert halls from Hartford to Florence. Recently, the 26-year-old has found more intimate venues within the exposed-brick walls of New York townhouses. A Roland keyboard or a baby grand to his right, a pink bow tie around his neck, a songbook in his hands—Verdi always wows `em—Mr. Spock delivers bursts of baroque beauty, all for salesmanship.

Mr. Spock joined Manhattan brokerage Rubicon Property four months ago, after receiving his broker’s license in the winter. He said his new boss liked him for his creativity, which means saving money on those showings.

“A lot of people have food or wine now, but the entertainment isn’t thought out.”

Because who isn’t lulled into signing a multi-million dollar contract by the plaintive moans of Aida?

During last decade’s real estate boom, the real estate party, usually in a newly built condo tower, was a staple of the industry. After the recession hit, nobody could much afford them. Now they seem to be hobbling back, along with the real estate market. Read More