The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Zillow sues Compass for poaching execs, allegedly stealing trade secrets

Posted: 19 Apr 2019 05:00 PM PDT

Zillow Group slammed Compass with two lawsuits late Friday, alleging the SoftBank-backed brokerage hired three executives in violation of their non-competes as it staffed up its nascent tech hub in Seattle. The lawsuits also claim that Compass actively sought to obtain proprietary information from Zillow to avoid building its own technology. The suits — one filed in federal court and the other in Washington state court — also name Robert Chen, Zillow’s former head of […]

Everywhere a sign: New home construction falls in March

Posted: 19 Apr 2019 02:00 PM PDT

Adding another sign that the housing market is slowing down, new home construction in the U.S. fell last month to its lowest level since May 2017, despite declining mortgage rates. The news could signal that homebuilders are having a difficult time constructing cost efficient homes amid rising supply and labor costs. In March, overall construction starts dropped 0.3 percent to a 1.139 million annualized rate, according to Bloomberg. This is down from a rate of […]

Same-sex couples denied a mortgage nearly 75% more often than heterosexual couples: report

Posted: 19 Apr 2019 01:30 PM PDT

Same-sex couples have a much harder time securing a mortgage than heterosexual couples. That’s according to the results of an Iowa State University study of 30 million mortgages originated across the country between 1990 and 2015, Housing Wire reported. The study found that same-sex couples were 73 percent more likely to be denied a mortgage. Same-sex couples were also charged slightly higher fees. On average, their fees are 0.5 percent higher than heterosexual couples. Researchers […]

Mark your calendars: These are NYC’s top real estate events next week

Posted: 19 Apr 2019 12:45 PM PDT

Here are a couple of real estate events coming up next week! On April 25, NAHREP Queens is hosting a Branding Summit at Floral Terrace, 250 Jericho Turnpike from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. This event will focus on the increasing importance of branding when it comes to building and maintaining success in the real estate industry. The event will also offer networking opportunities. Also on April 25, the CFA Society of New York is […]

Real estate investors see safe harbor in New York, LA but wary of Chicago: survey

Posted: 19 Apr 2019 12:00 PM PDT

Amazon’s pull-back and Albany’s political tumult aren’t enough to keep international real estate investors from seeing New York City as the safest place in the world to park their money. A survey of about 200 real estate investors and investment managers from 24 countries identified New York as the “most stable and secure” city in the world to do business, and 39 percent said they want to “increase exposure there,” according to Crain’s. About 20 […]

Industrious to open first co-working space in New Jersey

Posted: 19 Apr 2019 11:15 AM PDT

Industrious, the New York-based co-working and flexible-office space firm, is partnering with Taubman Properties to open their first New Jersey location at the Mall at Short Hills. The company will take over a 30,000-square-foot space previously occupied by Saks Fifth Avenue, the New Jersey Record reported. Industrious will offer a mix of co-working and office space at the site, which is set to open by the end of the year. This is not Industrious’ first […]

Queens property purchased for $125M by Chinese firm headed to foreclosure

Posted: 19 Apr 2019 10:30 AM PDT

An Elmhurst building that was formerly part of St. John’s hospital is now in foreclosure and will be auctioned off next month, where it could fetch a price of more than $81 million, according to court documents and sources familiar with the deal. The property is located at 90-02 Queens Boulevard, which Ding “John” Wai’s Sentry Operating Corp. bought in 2016 for $125 million. Steven Wu and a group of Asian investors sold the property […]

JLL I-sales broker out amid merger with HFF

Posted: 19 Apr 2019 10:05 AM PDT

In the midst of JLL’s takeover of capital-markets specialist HFF, one of the legacy institutional sales brokers from JLL is out. Yoav Oelsner, who was part of a small team that handled JLL’s big-ticket sales, recently left the company, sources told The Real Deal. When reached Thursday afternoon, Oelsner confirmed he left the brokerage and said he was looking forward to working on new opportunities, but declined to comment further. A spokesperson for JLL did […]

Fannie Mae issues ruling on renting newly-purchased second homes on Airbnb

Posted: 19 Apr 2019 09:00 AM PDT

Second-home owners who want to rent out their properties will breath a sigh of relief, and perhaps make a bit of cash. A newly rewritten document from Fannie Mae suggests homeowners and lenders may have been misinterpreting rules around rentals of second homes since 2001. Fannie Mae’s April 3 clarification of the “Second-Home Rider” shows that homeowners are allowed to rent out a second home after one year of ownership, and that short-term renting during […]

De Blasio fund that solicited cash from developers under state investigation

Posted: 19 Apr 2019 08:00 AM PDT

It turns out another watchdog is probing Mayor de Blasio’s defunct non-profit fundraising group “The Campaign for One New York.” The state’s ethics watchdog, the Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE), confirmed to The City that there is an ongoing investigation into the group. The commission has already settled two cases as part of the probe, including hitting James Capalino, a lobbyist who improperly provided gifts to public officials, with at $40,000 fine. It was […]

More Americans are choosing not to tap into their home equity

Posted: 19 Apr 2019 07:45 AM PDT

American homeowners are doing something surprising: Despite record amounts of home equity available to them — an estimated $1.5 trillion worth — they are tapping into it less via home-equity credit lines (HELOCs) and cash-out refinancings. The big question is why. Are people simply getting more frugal? Or are other forces at work? Economists who specialize in housing aren’t totally sure, but everyone agrees: Homeowner behavior has changed from previous years. Cash-out refinancings use the […]

National Cheat Sheet: Blackstone Group plans to become a corporation, NAR hit with new antitrust suit … & more

Posted: 19 Apr 2019 07:00 AM PDT

Blackstone Group plans to change its corporate structure effective July 1 Blackstone Group plans to become a corporation in an effort to “make it significantly easier for both domestic and international investors to own [its] stock,” CEO Stephen Schwarzman said. The change in corporate structure will go into effect on July 1, the company said. The move follows in the footsteps of competitors KKR and Ares Management corp., which already changed their corporate status. News […]

Owners of NoMad Hotel failed to pay $100M to lenders and investors

Posted: 19 Apr 2019 06:00 AM PDT

It seemed like the hotel project that couldn’t fail. But new documents filed as part of a state and federal lawsuits show that the owners of the NoMad hotel at 1170 Broadway neglected to repay more than $100 million owed to lenders and equity investors starting in late 2018, Commercial Observer reported. Andrew Zobler’s Sydell Group and Make It Nice own the hotel through a ground lease with the Haddad Organization, which is suing the […]

This 19th century UES townhouse just traded hands for a loss

Posted: 19 Apr 2019 05:00 AM PDT

An Upper East Side townhouse that dates back to 1883 just sold for $21.5 million. The seller, who paid $23.5 million for the property at 51 East 80th Street in 2014, took a loss on the deal. The townhouse was sold by North Fifth LLC, with Richard Gold as a managing member, according to records filed with New York City’s Department of Finance. Gold is an executive at private investment firm General Atlantic. The buyer […]

Seeing green: Why some real estate players think cannabis could be the next big thing

Posted: 19 Apr 2019 04:30 AM PDT

Churchill Real Estate Holdings’ Justin Ehrlich made a name for himself as a New York developer snapping up distressed Downtown buildings during the financial crisis and turning them into luxury condos. But lately, his focus has been on another high-growth business: cannabis. In addition to his property dealings, Ehrlich is a partner in Loudpack, an umbrella company of brands that sells a popular line of vaporizers, among other products. He’s also a partner in Greenwolf […]

Blackstone will pay rent-stabilized tenants $1M. It won’t stop the lawsuit.

Posted: 19 Apr 2019 04:00 AM PDT

Blackstone Group will pay about $1.1 million in refunds to rent-stabilized tenants at Parker Towers, though the payout doesn’t signal an end to a lawsuit over illegal rent increases at the Queens complex. The lawsuit was initially launched in March 2018 against the Jack Parker Corporation, which accused the real estate company of illegally deregulating apartments in the 1,327-unit Forest Hills rental complex despite receiving tax breaks under the J-51 program, which requires landlords to […]