The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Here’s where foreign homebuyers came from and bought during pandemic

Posted: 28 Jul 2021 02:15 PM PDT

International sales were severely hampered by the pandemic in 2020, but buyers from several countries still managed to pluck down big bucks for U.S. homes. Barely more than 100,000 homes were sold to foreign buyers from April 2020 to March 2021, according to a National Association of Realtors analysis reported by Inman. Three in 10 home purchases by foreign buyers came from one of five countries, Inman reports. Unsurprisingly, buyers from neighboring countries made up

Commercial property sales outpace pre-pandemic figures in Q2

Posted: 28 Jul 2021 01:45 PM PDT

Commercial property sales are broadly rebounding to pre-pandemic levels across the country, though the same success isn’t being seen in select markets that dominated before the pandemic. Investors spent $144.7 billion on commercial property during the second quarter, nearly three-times the amount recorded in the same period last year, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing data from Real Capital Analytics. While it is unsurprising that more property was sold this year than in the early

Sam Zell’s Equity Residential reports recovery in rental occupancy

Posted: 28 Jul 2021 01:10 PM PDT

The pandemic hit the bottom line of Sam Zell’s Equity Residential pretty hard, but the worst is finally in the rear-view mirror, executives of the real estate investment trust said Wednesday. “We acknowledge how badly our operations declined over the last 16 months,” said Michael Manelis, the chief operating officer, during an earnings call. “But the current recovery appears to be strong enough to both quickly recapture all that was lost in the pandemic and

Nearly $10M settlement for “cooked” SF condo owners

Posted: 28 Jul 2021 01:00 PM PDT

A San Francisco condo association that argued some of its owners were being “cooked” inside their homes settled with their building’s developers for nearly $10 million. The ruling, which could have an effect on future construction, blamed the designers of the high rise for failing to account for how hot the west- and south-facing units could become when sunlight hit their all-glass walls. “We found that the condominium’s inadequate ventilation failed to purge the heat

Landlords sue federal gov’t over rental losses during CDC eviction ban

Posted: 28 Jul 2021 12:45 PM PDT

In three days, the federal ban on evictions is set to expire, allowing landlords in most states to take non-paying tenants to court. But property owners say they deserve more than the freedom to join a backlogged docket. They want money. The National Apartment Association, a landlord group, filed a lawsuit in federal claims court Tuesday demanding that the federal government compensate housing providers who have “suffered severe economic losses” during the eviction moratorium imposed

Unibail-Rodamco plans “radical reduction” of regional malls

Posted: 28 Jul 2021 12:35 PM PDT

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield will look to sell its regional malls in the U.S. as it struggles to recover from the pandemic’s brutal impact on the retail sector. The Paris-based mall giant and investment firm posted a $652.6 million companywide loss for the first half of the year, it said in an earnings call Wednesday. That total still marked a significant improvement from the $4.6 billion loss it suffered in the second half of 2020. The firm’s coast

Party over? Pharrell’s Goodtime Hotel in Miami Beach could lose entertainment permit

Posted: 28 Jul 2021 11:47 AM PDT

Hospitality mogul David Grutman and rapper and entrepreneur Pharrell Williams could use some good vibes for their Goodtime Hotel. The hotel, which opened at 601 Washington Avenue in April, is at risk of losing parts of its conditional use permit following nearly 30 noise violations. The Miami Beach Planning Board will hold a hearing over revoking the entertainment permit for its rooftop pool deck on Sept. 28. The motion to hold a revocation hearing was

Covid surge, CDC reversal upends back-to-office plans

Posted: 28 Jul 2021 11:00 AM PDT

As the Delta variant fuels a nationwide surge in Covid cases, employers’ return-to-work plans are being thrown into a state of flux. This week, the CDC updated its public health recommendations, imploring the fully vaccinated to resume wearing masks indoors in “substantial or high-transmission” areas — classifications that currently cover more than 60 percent of U.S. counties. Office tenants are now preparing to deal with the fallout, according to the New York Times. Many employers

Loan surge at NYCB points to recovery of multifamily market

Posted: 28 Jul 2021 10:30 AM PDT

The second-quarter performance of New York’s largest multifamily lender shows the city’s rental market has regained its footing. New York Community Bank reported 4 percent annualized growth in its multifamily loan portfolio last quarter to $32.6 billion. In the same period, multifamily loan originations jumped by 42 percent to $2.1 billion, powering a 21 percent overall increase in originations. Meanwhile, rent collection by the bank’s loan recipients was steady at pre-pandemic levels and loan deferrals

Work-from-home threat “overstated,” Boston Properties CEO says

Posted: 28 Jul 2021 10:10 AM PDT

One of the nation’s largest office landlords isn’t worried about the rise of remote work. While the continued work-from-home trend will have a long-term impact on the office market, the threat is “overstated” for landlords of Class A office space, Boston Properties CEO Owen Thomas said Wednesday. “The market is concerned … We acknowledge that’s the case,” Thomas said on the REIT’s second-quarter earnings call. The expansion of remote work has been accompanied by a

Rise in home prices frees banks to offload mortgage risk

Posted: 28 Jul 2021 07:51 AM PDT

Banks are among the institutions taking advantage of a hot housing market by shedding mortgage risk with a new kind of bond. The bond shares the risk of mortgage and loan default with institutional investors. The bonds are backed by short-term loans made from banks to mortgage lenders, according to the Wall Street Journal. When people borrowing from those lenders default, bond investors essentially cover the loss. Banks are raising capital with the bonds —

CBRE pays $1.3B for 60% stake in London-based project manager

Posted: 28 Jul 2021 06:30 AM PDT

In one of its biggest acquisitions ever, CBRE is paying $1.3 billion for a majority stake project manager Turner & Townsend. The world’s biggest commercial real estate services firm is acquiring 60 percent of the London-based company. The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter, according to the Wall Street Journal and a press release, with Turner & Townsend’s leadership team remaining in place and retaining a 40 percent stake. The impetus for

City agencies grease the wheels of investment sales

Posted: 28 Jul 2021 05:00 AM PDT

Why fight City Hall when you can make real estate deals with it instead? The City of New York was active in the property market last week as both a buyer and seller, scooping up land for schools in Inwood while selling development rights in Greenpoint. The week’s largest deal was for a homeless shelter in Hell’s Kitchen sold by Triumph Hotels co-founder Shimmie Horn for just over $25 million. The building is operated by

CMBS loan issuance is booming — but not in the usual areas

Posted: 28 Jul 2021 04:00 AM PDT

In the commercial mortgage-backed securities world, conduit loans have always been the bread and butter of the market. But while CMBS issuance has come roaring back this year after a rough 2020, conduit loan issuance — which involves long-term refinancing loans that get packaged with other loans, securitized and sold to investors — is still lagging. Two other types of CMBS loans have accounted for the bulk of new issuance this year: commercial real estate