The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Rocket Companies originates record home purchase mortgages despite industry headwinds

Posted: 13 Aug 2021 04:21 PM PDT

Rocket Companies originated the most home purchase loans in its history in the second quarter, even as record-low interest rates cut into the lender’s profit. The company reported $1 billion in net income, down from $3.4 billion a year earlier. Revenue also fell, to $2.7 billion from $5 billion. The company said its earnings fell because interest rates dropped to record lows in 2020, sending homeowners rushing to refinance, while the volume of mortgages for

City starts clock on Two Trees’ massive River Ring project

Posted: 13 Aug 2021 02:45 PM PDT

Two Trees Management’s application for its massive River Ring project is ready to take the plunge. The developer’s bid to rezone the Williamsburg waterfront for its 1,000-apartment complex will begin the city’s land-use review process Monday. Certification of Two Trees’ application for its futuristic-looking, dual-tower development is on the draft agenda for the City Planning Commission’s Aug. 16 meeting. That will start the seven-month review process that winds its way from the local community board

$25M Sag Harbor home sells to investor Michael Hirtenstein in shell condition

Posted: 13 Aug 2021 02:10 PM PDT

Sag Harbor Village’s waterfront moratorium was just extended, the East Hampton Star reported, but that didn’t stop developer Jay Bialsky from inking a deal there recently. Real estate and nightlife mogul Michael Hirtenstein went into contract on a $24.95 million waterfront home at 2 West Water Street late last month. Bespoke Real Estate had the listing. The 11,058-square-foot home is in shell condition, Bialsky said, with the buyer hiring his own general contractor to finish

Lumber now piling up for manufacturers

Posted: 13 Aug 2021 02:00 PM PDT

Call it a woodpile up. Lumber dealers are seeing inventory stack up just months after a shortage sent prices skyrocketing. A survey from John Burns Real Estate Consulting revealed that 49 percent of lumber dealers and manufacturers in July had excess lumber capacity. Meanwhile, none reported inventories that were “very tight,” according to Bloomberg. Both of those metrics represented a vast improvement for dealers and manufacturers compared to just a few months ago. In April,

Can Trump International Chicago bounce back?

Posted: 13 Aug 2021 01:30 PM PDT

Condo owners at Trump International Chicago Tower & Hotel have long known that luxury downtown apartments in a tower with any other name sell at higher prices. Now, with the building’s namesake developer out of office, they’re seeing signs that pricing may finally have hit bottom. Average resale prices at the Trump tower have increased about 2 percent this year, to $579 per square foot, said Gail Lissner, managing director at Integra Realty, an appraisal

Brookfield Asset Management expects to make $25 billion from real estate portfolio

Posted: 13 Aug 2021 01:05 PM PDT

Brookfield Asset Management has big plans for its massive office and retail portfolio after recently taking its struggling real estate arm private. The Toronto-based asset manager, one of New York and Los Angeles’s largest office landlords, hopes to make $25 billion from its real estate portfolio, according to Brookfield CEO Bruce Flatt’s letter to investors on August 12. The company recently paid $6.5 billion to buy out the outstanding shares of its real estate arm,

The Big Apple grew by 629K people since 2010

Posted: 13 Aug 2021 12:15 PM PDT

New York City isn’t dead. In fact, the city may be stronger than ever after adding over half a million people over the past decade. The latest census figures reveal that New York City added 629,000 people between 2010 and 2020, an increase of 8 percent. The city now boasts over 8.8 million people in its total population, according to the New York Times. Mayor Bill de Blasio touted universal pre-K, safe streets and investing

These Miami properties play cameo roles in “Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami”

Posted: 13 Aug 2021 11:30 AM PDT

Cocaine, money and real estate. This was the holy trinity that Miami high-rollers worshipped from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. And the popes were a pair of Miami Senior High School dropouts named Augusto Guillermo Falcon and Salvador Magluta, who were simply known as Willy and Sal or los muchachos (the boys). The nexus between drug trafficking, money laundering and real estate is one of the overarching themes in “Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings

Federal eviction moratorium withstands court challenge

Posted: 13 Aug 2021 11:28 AM PDT

Renters are breathing a collective sigh of relief after a federal judge ruled that the CDC’s eviction moratorium will stay in place … for now. Judge Dabney Friedrich ruled on Friday that she didn’t have the authority to block the new targeted moratorium, according to the Wall Street Journal. The judge argued that a previous ruling that said the CDC had the authority for a moratorium based on the public health crisis precluded her from

Scramble to stop evictions after Supreme Court cripples NY moratorium

Posted: 13 Aug 2021 10:50 AM PDT

Lawmakers, lawyers and landlords are mobilizing in the wake of the Supreme Court decision Thursday that tenants cannot decide on their own that they qualify for New York’s eviction moratorium. The high court held that the self-attesting hardship declaration that tenants can submit denied landlords their due process. “You can’t be the judge and jury,” said Luise Barrack, head of Rosenberg & Estis’ litigation department. “Someone else has a right to look at what you’re

Census finds growing diversity on Long Island, led by Hispanics

Posted: 13 Aug 2021 09:30 AM PDT

Long Island was stung in late 2019 when Newsday reported that real estate agents routinely engaged in racial steering, but Nassau and Suffolk Counties on the whole became more diverse in the past decade, new census figures show. Minorities now constitute 40.2 percent of Long Island’s population, up from 31.3 percent in 2010. The minority population increased by 288,065 over the decade, while the white population declined by 199,253, according to Newsday. The diversification was

Maverick denied yet again in battle over Chelsea rental

Posted: 13 Aug 2021 08:45 AM PDT

They were certainly preying for a different outcome. On Monday, a judge ruled yet again against Maverick Real Estate Partners in its quest to foreclose on one of its borrowers. For three years, the distressed debt firm led by David Aviram has been battling Andreas Steiner, the owner of a five-story rental building at 416 West 25th Street, alleging various breaches of contract. But the latest ruling against the firm sides overwhelmingly with Steiner, leaving

Divvy Homes hits $2B valuation on new fundraising round

Posted: 13 Aug 2021 08:00 AM PDT

Proptech startup Divvy Homes scored another big round of fundraising, bringing the company’s valuation to $2 billion. The new round of funding essentially quadrupled the startup’s valuation. The latest round of financing was led by Tiger Global Management and Caffeinated Capital, according to Bloomberg. Other investors in the round included Andreessen Horowitz, GIC, GGV Capital and Moore Specialty Credit. The San Francisco-based company raised $200 million in equity financing this round. Divvy was founded in

Midtown’s Distrikt Hotel heads for foreclosure as receiver named

Posted: 13 Aug 2021 07:31 AM PDT

The developer of a troubled Midtown Manhattan hotel is up against the ropes. A New York State Judge this week appointed a receiver for the Distrikt Hotel, signaling the commencement of foreclosure proceedings. The 32-story, 155-key hotel at 342 West 40th Street, between Eighth and Ninth avenues, operates as the Tapestry Collection by Hilton. It closed its doors at the start of the pandemic and has remained shuttered even as many of the city’s hotels

Home prices spike in 94% of US markets

Posted: 13 Aug 2021 07:02 AM PDT

The hot housing market is not a local phenomenon anywhere in the United States, as almost all major metros have seen a double-digit jump in home prices. In 94 percent of markets examined by the National Association of Realtors, the median price of an existing single-family home was at least 10 percent higher in the second quarter than a year ago. The median for all 183 markets rose 23 percent from last year to an

Supreme Court nixes key portion of NY eviction moratorium

Posted: 13 Aug 2021 06:17 AM PDT

Tenants in New York will have to do more than claim financial hardship under the state’s eviction moratorium, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday. They will have to prove it. The nation’s high court, in a 6-3 ruling, struck down a provision of the moratorium that allows tenants to self-report Covid-related financial hardship with a form. Instead, court evidence and affirmation will be required going forward, the New York Times reported. It’s not clear how many

Landlord reviews are gaining steam — here’s who came out on top

Posted: 13 Aug 2021 06:00 AM PDT

Living through lockdown in New York City, renters chose to fixate on what they could control — their apartments. One tenant decorated her bathroom in an homage to David Lynch’s Blue Velvet. Another obsessively focused on exterminating the roaches nesting in her stove. And hundreds of thousands of housebound New Yorkers took to the Internet to dish on the pros and peeves of living situations they had previously been too busy to notice. A handful

At wits’ end over stalled project, “Skybox Chelsea” developer sues partner

Posted: 13 Aug 2021 05:00 AM PDT

A legal dispute blocking development of one of the last empty lots in West Chelsea has taken a dramatic twist. After six years in court, mired in discovery and docket filings, Israeli financier Jonathan Leitersdorf appears ready to walk away from his long-planned development at 182-188 11th Avenue. But he doesn’t plan on leaving empty-handed. The Leitersdorf company that signed an 88-year ground lease for the property, Audthan LLC, is now suing its landlord for

Stephen Ross becomes king of West Palm offices

Posted: 13 Aug 2021 04:30 AM PDT

For Stephen Ross, his latest bet on the West Palm Beach office market must feel like déjà vu. In the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, when buyers canceled contracts, financing froze and construction halted, Ross forged ahead despite doubt over the future of New York City real estate. His Related Companies kept building AOL Time Warner Center, now called the Deutsche Bank Center, with offices, condominiums, a Mandarin Oriental hotel and retail. Ross, who

Energy efficiency grades: motivation or nuisance?

Posted: 13 Aug 2021 04:00 AM PDT

Most people don’t like talking about bad grades. Including landlords. Last year, New York City began requiring letter grades based on energy efficiency and water usage to be posted on buildings over 25,000 square feet. According to Department of Buildings data reviewed by The Real Deal, 43 percent of buildings received Ds, 15 percent received As and Cs and 16 percent received Bs. About 10 percent received an F, given to building owners who either