New York has a congestion crisis. The traffic patterns of the City are simply mis-managed and quite frankly, a disaster. Is it because there are now over 30,000 UBER-affiliated cars on the road compared to roughly 10,000 two years ago? Is it the removal of multiple lanes to accommodate cyclists? Is it the high volume… [Read More]
RENT HIKE FREEZE, YET TAXES AND COSTS RISE
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on June 30th, 2015 The City Rent Guidelines Board ordered a freeze on rent hikes for rent stabilized apartments for the first time in history. It froze rents for 1-year leases and capped increases on 2-year leases at 2%. Real estate taxes are however rising around 13% and water-rates are rising… [Read More]
THE $50 BILLION QUESTION – NEW YORK RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION SOARS
Posted by Leonard Steinberg of URBAN COMPASS on August 14th, 2014 The volume of New York residential construction planned over the course of the next three years keeps growing: We are now approaching $50 BILLION worth of new rental and condominium buildings. Here are some recently released statistics: Spending on residential construction will hit a new… [Read More]
A TALE OF TWO REAL ESTATE MARKETS
Posted by Leonard Steinberg of URBAN COMPASS on July 25th, 2014 The entire USA real estate market is revealing a trend that we have witnessed in New York for some time now: brand newly constructed properties are selling for a significant premium over re-sale existing homes. The pricing variable is large. The supply is not… [Read More]
MAYOR DE BLASIO’S NEXT 100 DAYS
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on April 13th, 2014 Many have asked my opinion of Mayor De Blasio’s first 100 days in office: I was lambasted by many for vocalizing my support of him……surely someone in real estate could not support this obviously liberal mayor for New York City? Well, I did. And I did so with good… [Read More]
61,000 NEW NEW YORKERS: WHAT ABOUT SEMI-AFFORDABLE HOUSING?
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on March 26th, 2014 Many keep asking: where do all these New York buyers and renters come from? While much of it can be attributed to the creation of new households and ‘natural’ selling trends (death, birth, marriage, divorce, desire for change, re-location, etc), equally important are the numbers of people… [Read More]
WHY WE MUST FIGHT SMOKERS AND DIRTY AIR
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on March 25th, 2014 Many ask me why I am so militant against air pollution and smokers…. here is why: Air pollution killed 7 million people in 2012, more people than AIDS, diabetes and road injuries combined. 12,5% of deaths worldwide can be attributed to breathing tainted air, the world’s largest… [Read More]
HOW MAYOR DEBLASIO CAN GET BI-PARTISAN LOVE
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on March 24th, 2014 Mayor De Blasio is experiencing a rocky start in his role as Mayor of New York City. His early focus on terminating charter schools and horse carriages and raising taxes for Pre-K schooling has resulted in angry citizens on both the left and the right. Here is… [Read More]
NEW YORK GARBAGE DISGRACE
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on February 15th, 2014 This week we were again reminded how antiquated the garbage collection system is in our GLOBAL CENTER, New York City: Its truly outrageous. The endless snows have slowed garbage collection to a grind, with sidewalks piling up with garbage bags. Worse, when the trucks eventually roll around… [Read More]
MAYOR DE BLASIO: THE FIRST WEEK
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on January 8th, 2014 Mayor de Blasio has been in office now for just one week: many are already saying “I told you so!” after the rather divisive and disrespectful tone of his inauguration and the disappointing snow clean-up of Manhattan that was relegated to second priority after the outer boroughs, even though… [Read More]