| Bedford Village NY Real Estate Report | RobReportBlog | ||
| 2013 | 6 months ending 11/13 | 2012 | |
| 51 | Sales | 35 | up 31% |
| $897,000.00 | median sold price | $950,000.00 | down 5% |
| $412,500.00 | low sold price | $418,500.00 | |
| $8,200,000.00 | high sold price | $4,450,000.00 | |
| 3709 | average size | 3874 | |
| $303.00 | ave. price per foot | $315.00 | |
| 202 | ave days on market | 193 | |
| $1,116,475.00 | average sold price | $1,242,314.00 | |
| 93.81% | ave sold to ask | 93.91% | |
Homebuilder D.R. Horton Inc. is prepared to offer big discounts to buyers if sales don’t pick up by the start of the spring selling season, and other builders might be forced to follow suit, the Wall Street Journal’s Kris Hudson reports.
Orders for new homes were down 10 percent in October from a year ago, the Journal reports, citing a Zelman & Associates survey.
Source: blogs.wsj.com – See more at: http://www.inman.com/wire/homebuilders-may-offer-big-discounts-to-goose-spring-sales/#sthash.8quey4MM.dpuf
On October 18th, 2013, the Northeast Spa and Pool Association (NESPA) held its annual awards dinner, where it paid tribute to the accomplishments of custom pool builders from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. This year alone, more than 200 qualified applicants applied for NESPAs prestigious swimming pool design awards, yet only a few honors were bestowed to the candidates that exhibited ingenuity in the design and construction of their pools. Cipriano Landscape Design of Bergen County NJ took home the Best in Competition Award among other honors, for their outstanding luxury pool in Westchester County, NY, which is becoming known throughout the industry simply as The Violin Pool.
The idea behind The Violin Pool developed when Cipriano Landscape Design was approached by a homeowner that wished to combine his fondness for both collecting and playing the violin, with his desire for an inground swimming pool. The idea then formulated of a swimming pool that would be an exact replica of a 1700s era Stradivarius violin. Cipriano Landscape Designs architectural plans thus included all of the most pertinent characteristics of a violin, which include strings, the chinrest, a bow, a tail piece, f-holes, purflings, and a bridge.
[Chart via Elliman.]
Maybe this isn’t new news to you time-wearied renters out there, but it’s official: Manhattan rents haven’t declined in 26 months. The long-running trend of year-over-year increases—which makes landlords grin with glee and tenants grind their teeth in frustration—continued into August, according to the latest rental market report from Douglas Elliman. To be precise, median rents rose 1.8 percent to $3,150 last month. But at least the rent jumps themselves are getting smaller as 2013 progresses, meaning that the market is headed, at some indeterminate point, to a plateau. But that’s not expected to happen in the near future, mostly because tight credit, low inventory, and rising mortgage rates on the sales side are keeping those who might otherwise buy under better conditions in the competitive rental market. “None of these factors is expected to change significantly over the next year, so whether rents are rising (in Brooklyn) or stabilizing [in Manhattan], we don’t expect much relief to tenants over the next year,” says Elliman report author Jonathan Miller. “On the bright side, in what other city can you buy strawberries at 3am?”
[Chart via Citi Habitats.]
Before we move on to Brooklyn, one more analysis of Manhattan trends. The latest Citi Habitats report, also out today, puts the average August rent at $3,434, which based on their data is actually a slight decline compared with July and last August. See their neighborhood by neighborhood breakdown, above.
[Chart via Elliman.]
There’s no respite from the hikes to be found in Brooklyn, folks, where the median August rent was $2,850, a 4.6 percent jump from August 2012. That’s the highest figure Brooklyn has seen in over five years. More good news? The borough’s upswing is about 12 to 18 months behind Manhattan’s. So Miller expects Brooklyn rents to see more and bigger increases than Manhattan down the line, just because they “were later to the party.” · Market Reports [Elliman] · Market Reports [Citi Habitats] · Manhattan Median Rents Haven’t Declined in 25 Months [Curbed] · Market Reports archive [Curbed]
Incumbent Rob Astorino has won a second term as Westchester County Executive.
Astorino, a Republican, leads Democratic challenger Bramson 55 percent to 45 percent with 81 percent of precincts reporting.
“The people of Westchester have spoken today and I like what they said,” Astorino told his supporters at the Crowne Plaza in Westchester in a speech that began at 10:55 p.m.
Astorino’s victory for a second term capped an often contentious campaign that featured numerous verbal barbs.
Astorino thanked Bramson and also called New York City Mayor Elect Bill DiBlasio to congratulate him on his election.
“They say there are two New York’s,” Astorino said, “but there is just one Westchester. We have to focus on what brings us together.
“We have to find a balance between what we want and what we can afford. We have to get a grip on overspending and overtaxing.”
Astorino’s victory speech came moments after Bramson, the mayor of New Rochelle, conceded at the Westchester Hilton in Rye Town.
In other county-wide races, incumbent Tim Idoni holds a 53 percent to 47 percent lead over Mary Beth Murphy in the battle for county clerk with 81 percent of precincts reporting.
Democrat David Everett leads Republican Montgomery Delaney 60 percent to 40 percent in the race for County Court judge, also with 81 percent of precincts reporting.
http://whiteplains.dailyvoice.com/politics/astorino-wins-second-term-westchester-county-executive
Home prices increased by 10.1 percent in the second quarter of 2013 compared to a year ago and prices nationwide are now 16 percent above the trough, reached in the fourth quarter of 2011, but still remain 24 percent below the peak, reached in the first quarter of 2006.
Based on CoreLogic Case-Shiller data forecast through June 30, 2014, home price appreciation will slow to an average of 5.4 percent across all U.S. markets. CoreLogic Case-Shiller projects that price appreciation will decelerate through the second half of 2013 and into the beginning of 2014.
Purchases by first-time and trade-up buyers are increasing, though tight mortgage lending conditions and slow job-market gains are constraining demand for owner-occupied housing. Demand from investors is weakening as well, as fewer distressed properties are listed for sale and rising home prices cut into potential rental profits. At the same time, the overall supply of homes for sale is still rising in many metro areas as current homeowners take advantage of favorable seller’s markets.
The downtrend in the number of markets that gain monthly is likely due to both seasonal trends and the state of recovery for these markets. Of the 47 markets that saw declines last month, 40 percent have fully recovered their decline in home prices from the housing bubble, while another 28 percent were found to be unaffected by the boom-bust scenario, illustrating that the weakness is a result of leveling off in home prices.
Three weeks ago Homes.com released its Local Market Index for August wich found that prices increased on a month-over-month basis in 253 of the nation’s top 300 markets, compared to 293 in July.
In the Homes.com report, of the metro areas that felt the greatest impact from the housing bubble, Sacramento (+26 percent), Las Vegas (+25 percent) and Phoenix (+20 percent) saw the largest increase in home prices during the second quarter of 2013 versus the same period last year. Coastal California markets also exhibited strong price appreciation, including Oakland (+24 percent), San Jose (+22 percent) and Los Angeles (+20 percent), as buyers continue to jump in before increasing prices and mortgage rates substantially reduce affordability.
http://www.realestateeconomywatch.com/2013/10/case-shiller-prices-slowing-to-54-appreciation/
Miami Beach Mayoral Candidate Steve Berke (who is also, by the way, a comedian, marijuana activist, and documentarian of said Mayoral run) has some grand ideas for solving Miami Beach’s transit woes. The first idea, a light rail system circling South Beach is very good but not new and already an aspect of the recently revived Baylink idea. The second idea is the real headline grabber: an epic aerial tramway zooming over Biscayne Bay to Miami, ski-slope gondola style, that at the least would be an absolutely wild ride.
As for the routes each system would take, well, Berke’s light rail zigzags all over the beach like a cat on crack. A whole loop goes to Belle Isle, because apparently walking from there to Sunset Harbor is just too far. Halfway up Alton, the train doglegs over to West Avenue and then, wouldn’t ya know it, doglegs back a few blocks later. It basically makes curlicues around the Bass Museum. Meanwhile, gondolas full of tourists will depart South Point Park and immediately have to ascend hundreds of feet vertically above the tallest cruise ships before zooming over PortMiami’s working post-panamax container port. Oh, and on the other side of the port, the gondolas will pass directly through PortMiami’s turning basin, getting in the way of the ships. Apparently, those cruise ships just gonna have to flip it in reverse and back their asses out. Beep, beep.
Curbed Miami does not endorse any candidate in the Miami Beach mayoral race, but to give credit where credit is due, it is extremely refreshing that the island city’s hellish transportation situation is being addressed as a serious issue in this election instead of being swept under the rug. On the other hand, we’re not transportation engineers, but neither Steve Berke, and boy is it obvious.
UPDATE: A previous version of this story claimed that Berke brought a mariachi band to the last Miami Beach Mayoral debate. There was a mariachi band present, but according to Berke it was not he who brought it.
Location: Brooklyn, N.Y. Price: $4,800,000 The Skinny:Identified by theNew York Times in 2004 as “the original gentrifiers,” Evelyn and Everett Ortner dedicated their lives to the historic preservation of Brooklyn’s Park Slope, campaigning against big development projects, pushing for the neighborhood to gain landmark status, and setting a shining example by meticulously maintaining and restoring the 1886 four-story brownstone that they bought for $32,000 in 1963. With both Ortners now gone—Everett died in 2012, Evelyn in 2006—the house now finds itself back on the market for $4.8M. Featuring original mahogany woodwork, parquetry ornamentation, Lincrusta wallpaper, and its original heating system (uh-oh), the 5,043-square-foot house is one of the best preserved specimens in an area where people are paying above ask for historic properties on a regular basis—a phenomenon that Everett Ortner was not above jokingly taking credit for, telling friends he’d convinced to buy townhouses in the ’60s, “I made you all millionaires, and I think you should give me a commission.”
· 272 Berkeley Place [Vandenberg] · COPING; The Couple Who Saved Park Slope [NYT] · A Couple Who Gave Brownstones New Life [NYT]
Home prices posted their biggest annual gains in seven years in August, but the pace of month-over-month gains slowed in most markets tracked by the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-City Composite index.
The S&P/Case Shiller 20-City Composite showed home prices rising by 12.8 percent from a year ago, and by 1.3 percent from July to August. All 20 cities reported annual gains, with 13 showing double-digit price appreciation. The 20-city composite posted the strongest year-over-year growth since February, 2006.
If no adjustment is made for seasonal factors, month-over-month gains for the 20-city composite peaked in April.“Since then home prices continued to rise, but at a slower pace each month,” said David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices.
“This month 16 cities reported smaller gains in August compared to July.”Blitzer cited recent increases in mortgage rates and fewer mortgage applications as two factors in these shifts. When adjusted for seasonal factors, the 20-city composite index showed stronger month-over-month growth in August (0.9 percent) than in July (0.6 percent).
– See more at: http://www.inman.com/wire/home-price-gains-slow-for-4th-straight-month/#sthash.c2ZG0O5M.dpuf
