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Manhattan apartment market closes out crazy year with record-smashing quarter | Armonk Homes

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We’ve said it before, but now we can say it definitively: 2013 was a banner year for real estate, particularly for high-end residential sales. In fact, so many real estate records were smashed in the fourth quarter, according to reports released today by the city’s biggest residential brokerages, that data wonk Jonathan Miller said it was hard to count them all.

The last three months of 2013 had the most sales of any fourth quarter since Miller began compiling the data 25 years ago, according to the report that his appraisal firm, Miller Samuel, prepared for Douglas Elliman. Median condominium sale prices and inventory were also at a record high and low, respectively, Miller said.

“The fourth quarter is usually the weakest,” he said. “But we have a lot of records going on this quarter. It’s a bit of an anomaly.”

In the fourth quarter, 3,297 apartment transactions closed in Manhattan, a 26 percent increase over the same period in 2012, and the median condo sale price hit $1.32 million, up 14.3 percent from $1.13 million this time last year, the Elliman data show. Part of the reason for the spike was that larger units sold, Miller said.

The overall median sale price was $855,000, up 2 percent from a year ago.

The median cost for a one-bedroom condo was $891,000 last quarter, up 9.19 percent from $816,000 last year at this time, whereas two-bedrooms ticked in at a median of $1.83 million, up 12.2 percent from $1.63 million, according to Town Residential’s fourth quarter report. Three-bedroom condos hit $3.22 million, up 3.8 percent from $3.1 million year-over-year.

Co-op prices were up 4.6 percent year-over-year, to a median sale price of $680,000 in the fourth quarter, according to Elliman’s data.

And according to Halstead Property, new development sale prices in the last quarter averaged $1,562 per square foot, up a whopping 26 percent from 2012’s average, about $1,230 per square foot – another record. (Halstead shares data with sister brokerage Brown Harris Stevens.)

http://therealdeal.com/blog/2014/01/03/manhattan-apartment-market-closes-out-crazy-year-with-record-smashing-quarter/

Westchester Travel Remains Slow, Hazardous As Winter Storm Passes | Armonk NY Homes

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Westchester County motorists and other commuters are finding the going slow, frigid and hazardous Friday morning as a fast-moving snowstorm swept offshore, leaving blowing and drifting snow and dangerous sub-zero wind chills behind.

The New York State Thruway (I-87), closed to all traffic by Gov. Andrew Cuomo Thursday at midnight, reopened to passenger cars at 5 a.m. but was not opened to commercial traffic until 8 a.m.

Interstate 84 remained closed to all traffic until 8 a.m. before reopening.

Kenneth Jung, who works at Hastings Stationary in Hastings-on-Hudson, traveled from Ridgewood, N.J., to open the store.

“It took 2 1/2 hours to get here,” Jung said. “New Jersey was OK, but the New York Thruway was slow even though there were no trucks. The roads through Hastings and Dobbs Ferry were pretty good.”

Westchester parkways were opened but traffic moved slowly in the morning commute. Many local and secondary were cleared but surfaces remained slippery as temperatures dropped below 10 degrees in most Westchester communities.

State police reported an accident at Exit 15 of I-95 with two lanes closed just before 8 a.m. Two lanes were blocked as emergency vehicles responded.

Westchester County Police reported no significant accidents or incidents but warned motorists to avoid driving if possible.

“Conditions are still very slick and dangerous on the parkways,” County Police spokesperson Kieran O’Leary said on Friday morning. “We are urging people not to drive if they don’t have to do so. We do suggest that motorists monitor the media to stay up to date on any reports of road closings,”

Metro-North commuters were inconvenienced a bit as the train service was on Saturday schedule with fewer trains running than the normal weekday schedule.

http://armonk.dailyvoice.com/news/westchester-travel-remains-slow-hazardous-winter-storm-passes

Manhattan apartment sales hit a high | Armonk NY Homes

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Sales of Manhattan apartments have hit a fourth-quarter record, with wealthy international buyers competing with New Yorkers to get a foot in the door as prices soar.

The number of purchases rose 27 percent compared with the same period the year before to 3,297, according to new data released on Friday. Although down from 3,837 in the third quarter, this was the highest fourth-quarter tally since records began 25 years ago, according to appraiser Miller Samuel and brokerage Douglas Elliman Real Estate.

(Read more: New York is running out of luxury apartments)

Limited supply has led to buyers often making immediate all-cash offers, participating in bidding wars and making decisions based on floor plans alone, in an echo of the previous property boom. The number of days a property was on the market in the fourth quarter almost halved from the previous year to 95 days.

“Demand from foreign buyers has never been stronger. Those from the Middle East, Russia, South America, China have been on an incredible buying spree and it is these sales that are driving prices,” said Pamela Liebman, chief executive of property broker The Corcoran Group.

The median price of a luxury apartment – usually above $3 million – jumped 10 percent from a year ago to $4.9 million.

(Read more: New York apartment prices hit four-year high)

An abrupt increase in mortgage rates over the summer tipped more buyers into the Manhattan market at a time when inventories were already tight, a trend that continued to the end of 2013.

“This wasn’t a sleepy year end,” said Jonathan Miller, president of New York-based Miller Samuel. “There was a lot of good economic news last year and people from New Yorkers to international investors were keen to secure the best buying conditions from mortgage rates to prices. It was a record third quarter and now a record fourth.”

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101307173

Major snowstorm coming; up to 8 inches expected; schools dismissing early | Armonk NY Homes

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The region’s worst storm so far this winter is expected to bear down Thursday with up to 8 inches of snow, with near-blizzard conditions forecast to kick up as soon as the evening rush hour.

Officials are encouraging commuters to take public transportation and consider leaving work early, as heavy snow and strong winds are expected from Thursday night into Friday.

The storm also will bring with it the possibility of even more of a holiday break for students after the traditional Christmas-to-New Year stretch. Half of the 54 school districts in Westchester, Rockland and Putnam were scheduled to resume classes Thursday; some schools will dismiss students early on Thursday and Lakeland schools are closed. List:

http://lohud.com/schoolclosings

A winter storm warning is in effect from 4 a.m. Thursday until 1 p.m. Friday for northern Westchester, Putnam and Rockland, and from 6 p.m. Thursday until 1 p.m. Friday for southern Westchester, the National Weather Service said Wednesday

Light snow started falling in parts of Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties before dawn on Thursday, and it could be followed by a few inches during the day. The bulk of the snow is expected Thursday night into Friday. Winds could be close to 30 miles per hour after midnight Thursday. Friday’s high will be near 13 degrees and blustery winds will make it feel like below zero.

The National Weather Service is calling for total accumulations of 6 to 8 inches in Westchester, Rockland and Putnam. Map: Projected snowfall totals:

http://1.usa.gov/1gKMOXe

Armonk Could See Some New Year’s Eve Snow Squalls | Armonk NY Homes

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As Westchester County residents get set to usher in the new year, they should also prepare for snow showers.

The National Weather Service has issued a Hazardous Weather Outlook Statement for Westchester as well as Southeast New York, Southern Connecticut and Northeast New Jersey.

Scattered snow showers are expected this afternoon into the early evening hours, with a few snow squalls producing brief whiteout conditions accompanied by heavy snow and strong winds. Snow squalls could arrive as early as 2 p.m., but are more likely later in the afternoon through about 8 p.m. Flash freeze conditions are possible as a result of the snow squalls.

Today’s high temperature is expected to be 32 degrees with temperatures falling into the 20s for the final hours of 2013.

More significant snowfall is expected later this week from late Wednesday night into Friday morning with several inches possible. There is still uncertainty in terms of possible precipitation amounts.

New Year’s Day will be mostly cloudy with a high around 30. There is a slight chance of snow after 4 p.m. on Wednesday, and a more likely chance starting in the early hours of Thursday morning, with the likelihood increasing to 70 percent during the day on Thursday. Snow is expected to end Friday morning with Friday’s high temperature only between 14 and 16 degrees.

 

 

http://armonk.dailyvoice.com/news/westchester-could-see-some-new-years-eve-snow-squalls

Bedford Firefighters Battle Blaze That Destroys Banksville Home | Armonk NY Homes

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An overnight fire has destroyed a three-story home at 8 Hobby Farms Drive in Banksville, according to a report on LoHud.com.

No injuries have been reported in the Friday morning blaze, which is being battled by firefighters from Armonk, Bedford, Bedford Hills, Mount Kisco and Greenwich, Conn., according to the report.

 

 

http://bedford.dailyvoice.com/police-fire/overnight-fire-destroys-banksville-home

Couple has been living under a rock, literally | Armonk NY Homes

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For many people, the idea of living under a rock might seem like the punchline of a joke. But for one Mexican couple, a hut wedged below a 130-foot boulder in Coahuila, Mexico, has been home for the past 30 years.

A reporter recently visited the couple, Benito Hernandez and Santa Martha de la Cruz Villarreal, in their primitive desert home 50 miles south of Texas. Hernandez is a farmer who plants and collects the Candelilla plant used in making Candelilla wax.

He first saw this boulder 55 years ago, when he was 8, and decided to make it a home one day. Twenty years later he was able to secure rights to the land.

“I started coming here when I was 8 years old to visit the Candelilla (harvesting) fields, and I liked it here. I liked it and then I continued visiting every three to four months. I wasn’t married and I didn’t have a family yet, but I liked it and I had to keep coming to put my foot in (on the property) because lands here are won through claiming them,” Hernandez told Reuters.

The home, made of sun-dried bricks and cement, has a dirt floor, a wood stove, and no plumbing. Electrical service is said to be unreliable. A nearby stream supplies fresh drinking water. In winter, though, the water source freezes over.

“It gets very cold here and we struggle to get food. We have to work hard here on the Candelilla (fields). That’s the only job we have. That’s what we live from,” said Hernandez.

The couple have seven children, six of whom are married and live nearby.

 

 

 

http://homes.yahoo.com/blogs/spaces/couple-living-under-rock-quite-literally-230218154.html

Foreclosure Settlement: Ocwen Agrees to $2 Billion in Mortgage Relief | Armonk NY Homes

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Ocwen Financial Corp. will reduce struggling borrowers’ loan balances by $2 billion in an agreement with federal regulators and 49 states over foreclosure abuses. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and state attorneys general announced the deal Thursday with the Atlanta-based company, one of the largest U.S. mortgage servicers. The regulators said Ocwen pushed borrowers into foreclosure through illegal actions, such as failing to promptly and accurately credit mortgage payments.

The company also miscalculated interest rates and charged borrowers improper fees, the regulators said. “We believe that Ocwen violated federal consumer financial laws at every stage of the mortgage servicing process,” CFPB Director Richard Cordray (pictured above) said in a conference call with reporters. “We have concluded that Ocwen made troubled borrowers even more vulnerable to foreclosure.”

Under the agreement, Ocwen also will refund a combined $125 million to about 185,000 borrowers who had been foreclosed upon from 2009 through 2012. It also agreed to change the way it manages mortgages. The company must stop “robo-signing” of documents, the practice of automatically signing off on foreclosures without a proper review. The agreement must be approved by a federal court in Washington.

 

http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/12/20/ocwen-foreclosure-settlement-reduces-mortgages/

 

Bedford Corners, Armonk, Lead in Highest Ave. Price per Foot | #RobReportBlog

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Bedford   Corners, Armonk, Lead in Highest Ave. Price per Foot | #RobReportBlogPrice per foot
Katonah$438.00
Pound   Ridge$350.00
South   Salem$338.00
Mt Kisco$322.00
Chappaqua$369.00
North   Salem$405.00
Armonk$456.00
Bedford$409.00
Bedford   Hills$419.00
Bedford   Corners$467.00

 

Mortgage Loan Rates Continue to March Higher | Armonk NY Homes

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The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its weekly report on mortgage applications Wednesday morning, noting a decrease of 5.5% in the group’s seasonally adjusted composite index following a rise of 1% for the previous week. Mortgage loan rates increased again last week on three of four loan types.

The seasonally adjusted purchase index decreased by 6% from the prior week’s report to its lowest level in a year. On an unadjusted basis, the composite index decreased by 6% week-over-week. The unadjusted purchase index decreased by 9% for the week, and is 12% lower year-over-year.

Mortgage rates continue to creep up and home sales continue to slip. An MBA executive noted:

Mortgage applications fell further last week, with the market index falling to its lowest level in more than a dozen years. Both purchase and refinance applications fell as interest rates increased going into today’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

The MBA’s refinance index decreased by 24%, after dropping by 2% in the previous week. The share of refinancings rose by a point, totaling 66% of all applications. Adjustable rate mortgage loans account for 8% of all applications, unchanged from the prior week.