Real estate sales in Manhattan generally pick up after Labor day, although in the past 3 years, the pick up was rather tepid. This year however, the pick up is certain, and aggressive. “We are seeing a level of activity and bidding that we have not seen in many, many months,” says Leonard Steinberg, managing… [Read More]
NEW YORK ADDS MORE JOBS IN AUGUST.
The city’s faster-than-expected recovery continued in August: the local economy added 6,500 private sector jobs, continuing to surpass the nation’s growth rate. Jobs were added mostly in the real estate and banking arenas. New York’s August unemployment rate held steady at 9.4%, according to a report released Thursday by the state Department of Labor. The… [Read More]
ZOMBIE BUILDINGS…..DOES NEW YORK HAVE ANY?
In this morning’s Wall Street Journal the subject of Spain’s 1,5million vacant apartments in ZOMBIE BUILDINGS is addressed: do we have ZOMBIE BUILDINGS in Manhattan? Two that come to mind are 1 Madison Park and 245 Tenth Avenue, both really wonderful buildings caught in the financial storm of 2008/2009. “The difference between these two buildings… [Read More]
IRAN + VENEZUELA’S WORST NIGHTMARE?
When is this clever idea coming to the USA with its MILLIONS of square feet of parking spaces in sunbelt areas? Imagine every Wallmart and Home Depot, not only providing shade to all its parked cars to reduce their need for that initial AC blast, but also producing enough power from the overhead SOLAR PANELS… [Read More]
MONACO SAFRA PENTHOUSE SELLS FOR $ 17,600/sf: A NEW RECORD
The chatter on the French Riviera is all about the recent sale of a Monaco penthouse, once the home to Edmund Safra and featured recently in Architectural Digest….recently we reported the London penthouse that had sold for around $ 220 million making it then the world’s most expensive private residence: Now the record has been shattered with the… [Read More]
EATALY: MANHATTANS NEW FOOD COURT
Yesterday I visited EATALY for the first time, the new food emporium of Mario Batali…..what an experience! The line at the front door was the reminiscent of Studio 54: who would be chic enough to get past that velvet rope from a line stretched around onto 5th Avenue? I had to negotiate hard, explaining a… [Read More]
WHAT'S REPORTED HAS ALREADY HAPPENED
In this morning’s Wall Street Journal, an interesting article talks about the timeliness of real estate data. We have been talking about this for years…. “We have repeatedly cautioned anyone to use real estate quarterly reports to get the best gauge of what is really happening in the markets right now,” says leonard Steinberg of… [Read More]
IMAGINE ALL NEW YORK WITH THESE AWNINGS….AND…..
Imagine these awnings (or a version thereof) attached to all sunny sides of buildings in Manhattan where the awnings not only provide cover from the sun and rain, but also produce power…..what about small solar panels or wind turbines that you plug in just like a small appliance?…..that’s the promise of a Seattle, Washington-based start-up… [Read More]
HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT? IT’S ABOUT THE REAL ESTATE!
Unemployment is very high, yet many employers are finding it extremely difficult to fill certain jobs. It is estimated that unemployment amongst the very skilled is actually rather low: We know unemployment amongst the highly educated is definitely low. In this morning’s Wall Street Journal, an article tries to establish what is causing this. Employers and economists… [Read More]
WE ENTER THE ERA OF THE FLASH-CRASH!
The recent equity market flash-crash was determined to be a product of the computer-run systems we rely so heavily on. The flash crash produced a 1000-plus point market drop. And worse, we should expect another flash-crash in the future. With our lives increasingly over-taken by computers, the FLASH CRASH could happen not only on Wall… [Read More]