The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Discount brokerage Redfin Corp. is suspending its instant home-buying program amid economic turmoil sparked by the coronavirus pandemic. The Seattle-based firm, led by CEO Glenn Kelman, made the announcement Wednesday, according to the Wall Street Journal. It had stopped buying ads for the program earlier this month. Like other iBuyers, RedfinNow used an algorithm to buy homes, before renovating them and quickly selling them for a profit. The growing business represented 42 percent of Redfin’s

Construction groups are urging New York officials to designate their industry as “essential” so it can avoid coronavirus-related restrictions on employers. Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday announced that all nonessential businesses must have no more than 50 percent of their employees working outside their homes. The executive order laying out this mandate, which has not been publicly released, is expected to take effect Friday. Building Trades Employers Association President Louis Coletti said his organization has

U.S. home builders started more projects in February compared to the same time last year, new data shows. But experts say homebuilding is going to slow down due to the spread of the coronavirus across the country over the last week. However, the total blow is still unknown. “Now with the expectations of more closings and more restrictive work arrangements, it’s going to impact the housing market more materially,” said Joel Kan, associate vice president

Investment sales in Manhattan and Brooklyn Manhattan investment sales had a slow start to the year with $1.19 billion in deals recorded in January, down 60 percent from December and 45 percent below the 12-month average. Once again, the borough’s largest sale went to ground lease REIT Safehold, which acquired the land underneath Unizo Holdings’ 685 Third Avenue for $180 million as part of a deal that saw the Japanese firm fully withdraw from NYC.

The International Council of Shopping Centers is requesting aid from the Trump administration amid a host of restaurants, retailers and entertainment operators shutting down. ICSC wants the federal government to directly pay for or guarantee business interruption coverage for retailers, restaurants and other impacted businesses, according to the Wall Street Journal. There are almost 70,000 members of the ICSC, and although some companies might have third-party insurance, it does not cover the coronavirus pandemic. “These

Towering 47 stories over Times Square, the Hilton hotel on West 42nd Street was already operating on the knife’s edge before the coronavirus pandemic ground New York City to a virtual standstill. The 476-key hotel had started to see expenses for its rooms and food-and-beverage component spike early last year. Cash flow got so tight that nearly every dollar of income as paying the debt service on the property’s $92 million mortgage. And that was

Real estate brokerage stocks plunged Wednesday, after a market selloff prompted U.S. stocks to temporarily suspend trading. Shares of Realogy Holdings dropped 35 percent to just over $2 per share as of 2:55 p.m., and shares of Newmark were down 36 percent to just roughly $3. Colliers and Cushman & Wakefield were down roughly 22 percent and 34 percent, respectively. Shortly after 1 p.m., trading halted after the S&P 500 dropped 7 percent, triggering a

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that the Department of Housing and Urban Development will suspend all of its foreclosures and evictions through April in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The moratorium would apply to mortgages insured by the department’s Federal Housing Administration, or around 8.1 million households, according to Politico. Trump called it “immediate relief to renters and homeowners.” HUD, led by Ben Carson, also administers rental assistance to around 9 million low-income Americans. The

By every conventional measure, the hotel industry took a beating last week as the country went further into lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Occupancy, average daily room rates and revenue per available room fell drastically last week, according to new figures from the hospitality research firm STR. “Through comparative analysis of the occupancy trends in China and Italy over the past weeks, we can with certainty say that we are not yet

New York stopped short of a “shelter in place” order Wednesday but limited how many employees of “non-essential” businesses can report to work outside their homes. In the state’s latest measure to slow the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that no more than 50 percent of a company’s workforce can report to work. The state has not yet released a list of what qualifies as essential businesses, but the governor indicated that healthcare providers

Zillow Group is responding to the ongoing public health crisis caused by coronavirus by cutting the cost of its Premier Agent program in half. The company’s CEO Rich Barton emailed agents who use Premier Agent Tuesday morning and released a letter to shareholders later in the day. The 50 percent discount will go into effect on March 23 and apply to all new bookings through “at least” April 22. “We’re still seeing home shopping activity—albeit

One of the country’s largest hotel owners plans to lay off most of its 8,000-person workforce by the end of the month in order to cope with the devastating impact the coronavirus is having on the hospitality industry. Pebblebrook Hotel Trust CEO Jon Bortz was among the hotel executives who met with President Trump Tuesday to seek a $150 billion bailout for the hotel industry. Bortz, whose total compensation in the most recent fiscal year

The Javits Convention Center is being eyed as a Covid-19 triage center. With illnesses from novel coronavirus expected to keep rising, New York City has asked the state for the green light to turn the 760,000-square-foot building into a “medical surge” facility, Politico reported. The request is part of the de Blasio administration’s efforts to secure space for thousands of treatment beds. As of Tuesday night, the city’s emergency management agency was still waiting on

To stem the coronavirus pandemic, the city paused more than 100 zoning applications Monday from going through the public review process, preventing several massive developments and, ironically, plans for an infectious disease facility in Brooklyn from moving forward. Through an executive order, Mayor Bill de Blasio put all projects that must go through the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure on hold. As of Tuesday, there were 119 active Ulurp applications, of which 45 had officially

Barry Sternlicht has voiced worries of the next “calamitous recession,” but now he is optimistic that the epic disruption of the global coronavirus pandemic will be over in three months. “I don’t think in the history of the world have you ever had this many labs, this many people focused on a cure or a vaccine with technology that didn’t even exist 10 years ago,” he said during a television interview with “Bloomberg Markets: The

Airbnb’s business model relies on making both hosts and guests happy, but the startup is facing pushback from both sides as it flip-flops over who should cover the cost of cancellations. With demand for short-term rentals falling amid a global coronavirus pandemic, the company is now seeking government support for its hosts. But many of them have voiced anger at the startup’s recent decision to expand its “extenuating circumstances policy” in response to the pandemic,

New York tenant advocates are demanding billions in funding for housing and a suspension of rent, mortgage and utility payments during the coronavirus outbreak. The coalition, Housing Justice for All, is using a public health crisis to push its solution for the 92,000 people who are homeless across the state. The group is asking for $10 billion to invest in “housing relief,” demanding homeless persons be immediately rehoused in vacant homes, and asking for rental

Time waits for no broker, especially in the era of coronavirus — and that’s why a group of agents are trying to lobby StreetEasy to stop the clock. The New York Residential Agent Continuum is behind the effort, Bloomberg reported. NYRAC’s founding chairperson Heather McDonough Domi appealed to the listings portal in an email calling the stoppage of days on market “one humane way to support those who support you.” It’s not yet clear how

The hotel industry is coming to White House hat in hand as the coronavirus pandemic has chilled global travel. The American hospitality industry asked the Trump administration for a $150 billion bailout on Tuesday, warning that without the additional cash half of the hotels throughout the country may be forced to close this year, the Wall Street Journal reported. “The coronavirus has already had a more severe economic impact on the hotel industry than Sept.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti late Tuesday ordered a moratorium on commercial evictions for business owners who are unable to pay their rent because of the coronavirus emergency. Garcetti issued a similar moratorium to protect residential tenants on Monday. “Angelenos who own businesses in our city deserve peace of mind,” Garcetti said in a statement. “The moratorium will help ease some of the deepest concerns while we get through this crisis together.” Garcetti’s order will

It was the year of the buyer — with some of the priciest New York City sales counting as buy-side deals for major players like Corcoran, Compass and Douglas Elliman. Among them were the 54 deals that closed at Vornado’s 220 Central Park South in 2019 for a total of $1.6 billion, ranging from a $238 million spread to a $55 million condo. But it’s still a sell-side game for the biggest brokerages as many

Senior housing developments across the nation are bracing for the coronavirus pandemic. Many seniors rent apartments in developments with others their own age — ordinarily an advantage because it facilitates social interaction. Now, that concentration puts them at serious risk: A World Health Organization study found that those 65 and older are six times more susceptible to infection by the novel coronavirus than people 15 to 44 years old, and the COVID-19 fatality rate has