The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

eXp Realty started 2021 off real strong. Revenue at the virtual brokerage increased 115 percent to $583.8 million in the first quarter of 2021, the company reported during a Thursday earnings call. Its net income increased a whopping 3,348% to $4.8 million, compared to $100,000 during the same period last year. Meanwhile, gross profit increased to $53.5 million, compared to $28 million in the first quarter of 2020. The firm, which is based in Bellingham,

The Chelsea Hotel was once a bohemian utopia, home to the likes of Leonard Cohen and Patti Smith, and inspiring countless other artists. But in the past decade, the historic property has become more of a dystopia, both for its owners and a small but vocal group of longtime tenants. Residents have sued owners past and present, alleging harassment via construction. And plans to renovate the hotel, which have been in the works since at

One day after a judge struck down the federal eviction ban, a landlord lobby is taking aim at New York’s statewide moratorium. The Rent Stabilization Association filed a suit Thursday challenging the constitutionality of the law, which Gov. Andrew Cuomo just extended through Aug. 31. The case seeks an injunction against the ban. RSA, which represents 25,000 landlords, alleges that the law violates landlords’ first amendment rights by requiring them to distribute a hardship declaration

Off-market listings have long been a controversial topic, with agents who oppose them claiming they provide an unfair advantage to brokers at the top end of the market. But Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman sees another problem: These so-called pocket listings also exclude minority homebuyers. In an opinion column in Inman and in Twitter posts, Kelman wrote how brokerages often hold 10 percent of their listings off market, spanning cities like Chicago, Minneapolis and Columbus, Ohio.

Long-suffering condo developers just had their busiest month in five years. Some 474 new development contracts were signed last month in New York City, according to Marketproof, which tracks sponsor sales across all price points in the city. The contracts were inked at 198 different condominiums. In Manhattan, 235 contracts were signed, up from 165 in March. It was the borough’s highest level of activity in three years. Bespoke Living’s 170-unit building at 300 West

Starwood Property Trust CEO Barry Sternlicht said New York’s rent laws place so many restrictions on building owners that a friend of his, a landlord worth billions, refers to himself as “a janitor.’’ Sternlicht, speaking on Starwood’s first-quarter earnings call, said his unnamed friend can’t increase rents or renovate his New York properties. The landlord’s dilemma reflects a “tsunami of change of attitude in these dark-blue states,’’ Sternlicht said. Legislators in New York and other

Google’s future in a post-pandemic world is looking pretty flexible. Parent company Alphabet announced a series of changes to the company’s work format that will result in 40 percent of its staffers working from new locations, the Wall Street Journal reported. In a company email, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said about 20 percent of staff will work from home permanently, 20 percent will work out of offices at a new location and 60 percent will

Newmark posted record first quarter revenue this year, thanks to gains in its management services and leasing businesses. The brokerage reported revenue of $504 million in its first-quarter earnings release published Thursday morning. That’s an increase of slightly more than 4 percent from the same period last year. The gains were boosted by growth in the company’s biggest line of business: management fees from things like mortgage servicing, which saw a nearly 14 percent year-over-year

Rents are going up, which is bad news for tenants staring down eviction. The median monthly charge on a vacant rental saw a $185 annual jump in March, Bloomberg News reported, citing data from the U.S. Census Bureau. In April, rents rose nearly 2 percent, the biggest jump since 2017. Those increases, along with the uneven economic recovery and recently overturned eviction ban, puts pressure on lower-income families, who typically spend 40 percent of their

Douglas Elliman’s revenue surged in the first quarter and Howard Lorber believes this is only the beginning. The brokerage’s first-quarter revenue was $272.8 million, up from $165.6 million last year, as reported by Elliman’s parent company, Vector Group. The firm’s closed sales volume soared to $10.1 billion, up 71 percent compared to the first quarter of 2020. Elliman reported a net income of $13.9 million after losing $69 million a year ago. Though gains were

Amazon takes up warehouse space — a lot of it. It’s to the point where the vacancy rate is so low in some North American cities that their economies could be throttled, according to Colliers International Group and CBRE reports cited by Bloomberg News. The warehouse vacancy rate in Toronto shrunk to 0.5 percent as Amazon snatched up warehouses in response to the e-commerce boom, the publication said. That’s the lowest among major North American

What’s more American than suing your nonpaying tenant? RXR Realty filed suit against American Girl this week for missing rent after the dollmaker claimed it should get an $8 million-plus pandemic discount. The developer, led by Scott Rechler, alleges that American Girl owes about $500,000 in May rent at its flagship store at 75 Rockefeller Plaza, the Commercial Observer reported. American Girl signed a 15-year deal in 2016 for 40,000 square feet at Rockefeller Plaza

Big Tech may not be done with the office just yet. Infor has renewed a lease for its 90,000-square-foot office at SL Green’s 635-641 Sixth Avenue, sources familiar with the transaction told The Real Deal. Under the lease, the software company will be paying somewhere in the $80 range per square foot, per those sources. The company originally moved into the building in 2012. The following year, it signed a long-term lease to double its

Two landlords — one in Brooklyn and the other in Queens — racked up almost $200,000 in fines in March for illegally adding units to their residential properties. That’s according to a monthly report from the Department of Buildings, which details the agency’s efforts to enforce building codes and safety regulations. Herman Stark was slapped with $99,750 in penalties for adding six residential units to an illegal two-family home conversion at 626 Lafayette Avenue in

The 10 largest Manhattan real estate loans recorded in April totaled about $790 million, less than half of March’s total. Once again, the commercial mortgage-backed securities market produced the month’s largest loan: a refinancing for a Midtown office tower on top of a USPS warehouse. It was also the month’s only loan of more than $100 million. Here were the borough’s largest real estate loans in April: 1) You’ve got mail | $350 million Vornado