The Real Deal - New York Real Estate News

Fed wants banks to step up lending in low-income areas

Posted: 21 Sep 2020 04:20 PM PDT

The Federal Reserve has proposed modernizing and strengthening a 43-year-old law aimed at encouraging banks to provide loans in low- and moderate-income communities, where homeowners had been subject to the practice of redlining. Part of the Fed’s proposal to overhaul the Community Reinvestment Act includes creating a four-part test for analyzing bank loans made to those neighborhoods. The plan calls on banks to provide more loans to individuals in low- and moderate-income communities, rather than

Is winter coming? Real estate stocks dragged down by 4th week of market decline

Posted: 21 Sep 2020 04:15 PM PDT

Public real estate companies followed major markets into their fourth straight week of declines, reflecting increasing concern among investors about the future of the U.S. economy. Tech stocks, which have weathered the pandemic comparatively well, are down. CoStar has fallen more than 6 percent in September, Redfin more than 11 percent and eXp World Holdings more than 12 percent. Zillow has bucked the trend with a gain of 7.3 percent this month. The Bloomberg U.S.

Council advances bill to cap emissions at some rent-regulated buildings

Posted: 21 Sep 2020 03:50 PM PDT

When the city approved strict carbon emission caps last year, officials exempted properties with any rent-stabilized apartments. But the City Council is moving forward with a bill that would require certain rent-regulated apartment buildings to meet the standards laid out in Local Law 97, which calls for a 40 percent reduction in citywide emissions by 2030 and 80 percent by 2050. Under the law, most properties larger than 25,000 square feet must limit emissions based

Aby Rosen, Michael Fuchs back new retail brokerage

Posted: 21 Sep 2020 03:35 PM PDT

Between e-commerce and the pandemic, there’s never been a worse time for the retail industry. But that’s not stopping two longtime retail brokers from launching a new firm. Former Cushman & Wakefield brokers Brandon Singer and Michael Cody have launched Retail by MONA, The Real Deal has learned. The firm’s investors include Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs of RFR Holding. A representative for the investors declined to comment. Singer and Cody, who worked with Cushman’s

Trump threatens to yank $7B from “anarchist” NYC

Posted: 21 Sep 2020 03:26 PM PDT

Broadway may be closed, but political theater is alive and well in New York — and Washington. The Trump administration Monday deemed New York City an anarchist state and will move to revoke up to $7 billion in federal funding. That’s the script, anyway. The reality: That money is not discretionary, but rather is distributed according to federal law. The de Blasio and Cuomo administrations said they would immediately challenge in court any attempt to

Related asked $50M for this penthouse. It went into contract for $25M

Posted: 21 Sep 2020 02:40 PM PDT

When it was a sketch in floorplans, the penthouse apartment at the Zaha Hadid–designed condo overlooking the High Line was priced at $50 million. Four years and one pandemic later, the now-built unit has gone into contract asking just $24.975 million, or $3,644 per square foot. The heavily discounted deal was one of 14 for properties above $4 million in Manhattan last week for — the highest weekly total since mid July, according to the

Editor’s note: We’re all holding our breath

Posted: 21 Sep 2020 02:00 PM PDT

If there’s one thing investors don’t like, it’s uncertainty. Unfortunately, that’s all we seem to have these days. As we head into the homestretch before the presidential election, amid a pandemic, wildfires raging, a deep partisan divide in the country, social unrest and financial fallout (not to mention the discovery of possible signs of life on Venus), it’s hard to imagine how much more could be unsettled. Even in a normal election year —with a

Sprawling Brooklyn townhouses drive week’s priciest deals

Posted: 21 Sep 2020 01:00 PM PDT

Spacious townhomes were responsible for the majority of deals in Brooklyn’s luxury market last week. There were 16 contracts signed for homes listed at $2 million or higher last week, according to Compass’ weekly report on the borough’s luxury contracts, and all but three of those were for townhouses. Townhouses similarly dominated the borough’s contract activity at the start of the month. The most expensive contract inked last week was for the 4,000-square-foot townhouse at

Hotel and retail mortgages dragging down recovery

Posted: 21 Sep 2020 12:45 PM PDT

Mortgages backed by hotels and retail properties are struggling — and attracting yield-hungry investors willing to tolerate the risk, the Wall Street Journal reported. As the risk that the loans will fail increases, so does the yield of the securities into which they are bundled. One way to measure that risk is to compare that yield to what super-safe 10-year Treasury notes pay. At the moment, the difference between those two numbers, called the spread,

Skyscrapers, business strategies, and brownstone renovations made TRD’s top videos last week

Posted: 21 Sep 2020 12:15 PM PDT

Skyscrapers go up, crumbling buildings go down, and townhouses get gutted to create beautiful new spaces. These and more made our top four real estate videos last week. Below, you can peek inside the renovation of Ryan Serhant’s $7.6 million townhome; understand why power broker Bob Knakal still gets broker training every week; and watch 10 awesome demolitions across NYC. Check out all four trending videos on our YouTube page. The Top 10 NYC Building

WeChat ban on hold: Why that’s good for real estate

Posted: 21 Sep 2020 11:45 AM PDT

WeChat users facing a U.S. ban of the social media app starting Sept. 20 got an 11th-hour reprieve from a California judge, who ruled the edict may violate their First Amendment rights. In a ruling Sunday, Judge Laurel Beeler granted an injunction against President Trump’s executive order banning WeChat from operating in the U.S. In the ruling, she said there were serious questions about whether the ban is constitutional. The Trump administration has said WeChat,

“That was a business decision”: Why real estate execs are backing Trump — or backing away

Posted: 21 Sep 2020 10:33 AM PDT

Sotheby’s International Realty broker Nikki Field was leading sales at Kushner Companies’ Puck Penthouses in Manhattan when, in 2016, the Kushners raised the idea of the brokerage getting involved in a fundraiser for Donald Trump’s presidential bid. Sotheby’s said it couldn’t because it was prohibited from donating to political campaigns, so Field offered to help. She ended up co-chairing the event — held at a Kushner property in New Jersey — and giving $10,000 of

Rent struggles for NYC restaurants now worse than ever

Posted: 21 Sep 2020 10:27 AM PDT

Restaurants in New York City have been struggling to make rent throughout the pandemic, but this month marks a new devastating high. Eighty-seven percent of New York City establishments could not pay their full August rent, according to a new survey of more than 450 restaurants, bars, and nightlife venues by the NYC Hospitality Alliance. Of those, 34 percent did not pay at all. The numbers have been creeping up throughout the summer: In July,

How do companies decide who should return to offices first? It’s tricky

Posted: 21 Sep 2020 10:02 AM PDT

Companies are starting to bring employees back to offices after months of working from home, but deciding who should come back first is tricky — so firms are relying on surveys, apps and other tech to guide staffing decisions. International Business Machines, for instance, gave precedence to scientists working in quantum computer labs who may have had trouble working from home, the Wall Street Journal reported. Automatic Data Processing, a payroll processor, is using a

Student suspended after blasting lawmaker’s pro-development stance

Posted: 21 Sep 2020 08:41 AM PDT

A student is suing a New York City Council member, alleging the politician had her suspended for publicly criticizing the lawmaker’s stance on a controversial Crown Heights project. Medgar Evers College reprimanded student Sakia Fletcher, allegedly at the behest of Council member Laurie Cumbo, after Fletcher argued with her about Cumbo’s vote in 2017 for the Bedford-Union Armory redevelopment, the New York Daily News reported. The day after the April 2019 exchange, at a community

US housing supply reaches nearly 40-year low

Posted: 21 Sep 2020 07:45 AM PDT

The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated the severe housing supply shortage in the U.S., with the number of homes on the market reaching historic lows. At the end of July, the National Association of Realtors found that there were 1.3 million single-family homes on the market, the lowest figure for any July since 1982, the Wall Street Journal reported. And in the week ending Sept. 12, the number of available homes was down 29.4 percent from

Investors bank on urban real estate comeback

Posted: 21 Sep 2020 06:45 AM PDT

Despite the endless trend stories about urbanites fleeing to the suburbs, investors are counting on the strong recovery of real estate in large cities. During the second quarter of 2020, major hedge funds, including D1 Capital Partners and Long Pond Capital, and mutual fund giants Capital Group and T. Rowe Price, purchased shares of the companies that rent residential real estate in urban markets, according to Reuters. There are also signs that things are improving:

Commercial evictions, foreclosures halted through October

Posted: 21 Sep 2020 05:45 AM PDT

Commercial tenants are getting a small reprieve from Gov. Andrew Cuomo. New York’s moratorium on commercial foreclosures and evictions will be in place until at least Oct. 20, Cuomo announced on Friday. The moratorium was set to expire Sept. 30, but the governor signed a new executive order extending the ban for another month. But the state allowed commercial eviction warrants to be issued beginning Sept. 4 for cases that commenced before March 17, and

Opendoor is ready to go public. Is its balance sheet?

Posted: 21 Sep 2020 05:00 AM PDT

Five months ago, iBuying startup Opendoor was in survival mode: It paused home buying, laid off 35 percent of its staff and raced to sell $1 billion worth of homes on its books. Now, the company is going public through a $4.8 billion deal with Chamath Palihapitiya’s blank-check company. Invoking past investments in Bitcoin, Amazon, Tesla and Virgin Galactic, Palihapitiya, the founder and CEO of Social Capital, called Opendoor his next “10x idea.” But by

What tenants are paying at Chetrit’s 850 Third Ave

Posted: 21 Sep 2020 04:30 AM PDT

When Chinese airline-turned-conglomerate HNA Group sold the office tower at 850 Third Avenue at a loss early last year, one major motivation was to avoid scrutiny from the U.S. government, which had threatened to seize the property due to national security concerns. The way things turned out, HNA’s disposal of this trophy asset also helped it sidestep a headache involving its biggest tenant, whose lease has ended up in limbo after expiring in the middle

TRD’s September issue is live for subscribers!

Posted: 21 Sep 2020 04:00 AM PDT

The Real Deal‘s September issue is live online for subscribers and starts hitting doorsteps soon. With the most divisive presidential election in modern history entering the home stretch, real estate markets are bracing for an increase in uncertainty as Joe Biden and Donald Trump go head to head. In this month’s cover package we break down which industry pros and private equity players are betting blue or red. Plus, we lay out what a Biden