The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Brightline ends partnership with Virgin Trains in South Florida

Posted: 07 Aug 2020 04:10 PM PDT

Brightline and Virgin Trains are headed on different tracks and have ended their partnership agreement in South Florida. The commuter train service will go back to using the name Brightline, it said in its monthly revenue and ridership report. Brightline had been operating as Virgin Trains USA, and was expected to complete the rebranding by this summer. The rail service, which operated from downtown Miami to West Palm Beach, with an expansion to Orlando under

School’s back on. Will the NYC resi market follow suit?

Posted: 07 Aug 2020 02:45 PM PDT

As the city shut down this spring, New York’s wealthiest neighborhoods saw an exodus of residents, many of whom headed to second homes or rentals in the Hamptons and other parts of the Tri-State. Now that Gov. Andrew Cuomo has given the go-ahead to reopen schools for in-person learning statewide, will those who fled return? Reacting to Friday’s news, several brokers and housing experts doubt families will be rushing back. Chuck Petersheim, who founded Hudson

National retail chains paid 80% of July rent, a Covid high

Posted: 07 Aug 2020 12:45 PM PDT

An increasing number of retailers are finding their rent is no longer too damn high. Major retail chains paid 80 percent of their July rent, by far the highest amount in months, according to a new report from Datex Property Solutions. But despite that positive indicator, many retailers are still skipping rent payments, a distressing sign for landlords. The latest rent collection total compares to Datex’s June figures, which found that 68 percent of major

Mortgage mogul Dan Gilbert sees net worth quicken to $34B

Posted: 07 Aug 2020 12:15 PM PDT

In its first day of trading, shares of Rocket Co. rose more than 19 percent, pegging the net worth of Dan Gilbert, the company’s CEO, at $34 billion. The Detroit-based mortgage company is now valued at about $40 billion, Bloomberg reported. Gilbert owns about 73 percent of its shares, and is now the 28th-richest man on earth, richer than Blackstone’s CEO Stephen Schwarzman and activist investor Carl Icahn. Rocket Co. operates Quicken Loans. Software development

Move Inc. revenues drop as Realtor.com traffic climbs

Posted: 07 Aug 2020 10:30 AM PDT

Move Inc., the company that runs Realtor.com, saw a drop in revenues last quarter, as parent company News Corp. also took a hit. Susan Panuccio, News Corp.’s chief financial officer, said in an earnings call Thursday that Move’s revenues had “declined 10 percent to $111 million, with real estate evenues down 5 percent.” She blamed the loss “almost entirely” on a customer-billing relief program, and said Move was still adjusting to a referral model. Despite

Blackstone boss leads Wall Street charge for Trump

Posted: 07 Aug 2020 10:00 AM PDT

When others zig, Blackstone boss Stephen Schwarzman zags. Wall Street has largely abandoned efforts to fill President Trump’s campaign coffers, but support from Schwarzman, who helms New York-based investment firm Blackstone, has filled the gap, Bloomberg reported. Schwarzman gave $3.7 million to Trump in 2020, the lion’s share of the total $3.8 million from the financial services sector. Without that contribution, donations from the financial industry’s most prominent banks would have been down 69 percent

KKR teams up with Dalan on big Brooklyn multifamily buy

Posted: 07 Aug 2020 09:00 AM PDT

Private equity giant KKR is teaming up with Dalan Management to buy the big Bruman Realty multifamily portfolio in Brooklyn. The alternative asset manager is providing the bulk of the equity for the deal, Bloomberg reported. The contract price is $860 million, according to the outlet. The Real Deal first reported two weeks ago that Dalan was in contract to buy the 14-building portfolio from Joseph Brunner and Abe Mandel’s firm. But sources at the

Retailers rejecting leases amid bankruptcy could bring “tsunami” for landlords

Posted: 07 Aug 2020 08:45 AM PDT

Retail bankruptcy filings have skyrocketed in recent months, with a key benefit being the ability to exit a pricey, multi-year lease. But that perk, which some companies deploy to get out of dealing with individual landlords for each property, is putting a strain on landlords and the overall market, according to Bloomberg. “If this becomes a tsunami of retailers rejecting their leases, it’s going to trigger another part of the sea-change — the mortgages held

Hospitality, retail led job gains in July

Posted: 07 Aug 2020 07:30 AM PDT

The hospitality, leisure and retail sectors led job gains in July, with unemployment levels improving slightly overall. Payroll employment rose by 1.8 million in July and the unemployment rate declined to 10.2 percent, following a high of 14.7 percent in April, according to Department of Labor figures released Friday. Still, 16.3 million Americans remain jobless — and an additional 10.3 million were not counted because they searched for unemployment in the past year, but gave

A divided suburbia: Race, class, and the endless struggle for affordable housing

Posted: 07 Aug 2020 06:45 AM PDT

This story was originally published in March 2020. Last November, a 40-year fight over an affordable housing development in Long Island — a legal battle that had gone all the way to the Supreme Court — finally came to a vote. Despite locals arguing for decades that it would cause traffic and crowd schools, Suffolk County legislators allocated $2.4 million to the 146-unit project in East Northport, a hamlet in the town of Huntington. For

30-year mortgage rate hits record low — again

Posted: 07 Aug 2020 06:00 AM PDT

The average mortgage rate on America’s most popular home loan has hit another record-setting low. The rate on the 30-year mortgage fell to 2.88 percent, the lowest rate in 50 years, Bloomberg reported, citing Freddie Mac. Rates have dropped eight times during the pandemic. Last month, the rate fell below 3 percent for the first time, registering at 2.98 percent. The lower rates are “giving potential buyers more purchasing power and strengthening demand,” said Sam

MetaProp set out to raise $100M for proptech investing. It’s been slow going

Posted: 07 Aug 2020 05:00 AM PDT

Fifteen months ago, MetaProp, one of the early venture-capital players in proptech, set itself an ambitious goal: raise $100 million to back the next generation of startups. But in a regulatory filing last month, the firm disclosed it was just halfway to that target, a rate of fundraising that industry players said lags behind the norm. According to the filing, MetaProp raised $51.1 million from 56 investors as of July 2 for MetaProp Ventures III,

Developer, activists square off on rezoning, industry distrust

Posted: 07 Aug 2020 04:30 AM PDT

The fate of Inwood is up in the air as the state’s highest court mulls whether to hear a lawsuit challenging the neighborhood’s rezoning. The rezoning, which would apply to 59 blocks in the Manhattan neighborhood, is one of many such actions that aim to lure housing developers with a density bonus. But they inevitably fail to create housing that is affordable enough for existing residents, according to Paloma Lara, a member of Northern Manhattan

Half empty or half full? Hotel occupancy rate nears 50%

Posted: 07 Aug 2020 04:00 AM PDT

Hotels are continuing their comeback, ever so slowly. The occupancy rate across the U.S. hit 48.9 percent for the week ending Aug. 1, according to hotel data tracker STR. The rate has increased for 15 of the last 16 weeks; the streak was interrupted in the week ending July 4 because of a surge in coronavirus cases. Occupancy rates do not take into account hotels that are closed. In the Los Angeles/Long Beach market, the