34 N. 7th St.

One-bedroom, one-bath condo, 717 square feet, with Miele and Bosch kitchen appliances, subway-tiled bath and central AC; Edge building features doorman, pool, basketball court and screening room. Common charges $586, taxes $5. Asking price $749,000, on market five weeks. Broker: Ian MacDermut, MNS

View full article here: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/realestate/residential/just_sold_E2kvD2KO3yQvvOL5KtbzaM

DNAinfo reported that Greenpoint has seen a 20 percent rent hike this year, according to a rental survey compiled by MNS. As DNAinfo said, “Average studios skyrocketed from $1,875 to $2,688, one-bedrooms from $2,411 to $2,685, and two-bedrooms from $2,722 to $3,036.” That’s an average of $457 higher than last spring. New development 60 Franklin Street and 305 McGuiness Boulevard were two big causes of the increase, and many more new buildings are planned for the neighborhood. (Mega development Greenpoint Landing should begin its land-use review process this summer.) MNS Chief Executive Officer Andrew Barrocas said to expect “continuous growth” in Greenpoint. Meanwhile in Bushwick and Williamsburg, prices on one- and two-bedrooms in Williamsburg have slightly decreased, but prices in Bushwick have risen across the board. A Bushwick studio asking $1,275 last year has now risen to $1,750 a month.

Greenpoint Joins Bushwick With 20 Percent Rent Leap [Brownstoner]

Photo by Bridge and Tunnel Club

View Full Article Here: http://www.brownstoner.com/blog/2013/05/rents-surge-in-greenpoint-2/?stream=true

WILLIAMSBURG — Average rents in “prime” North Williamsburg are nearly $1,600 more than in parts of South Williamsburg, a new map shows.

Average residential rents for studios, one- and two-bedroom apartments are now $3,499 in North Williamsburg, north of the Williamsburg bridge between the BQE and the East River, the MNS Real Estate graphic shows. The price is nearly double that of the $1,900 average in South Williamsburg, south of the BQE and Broadway.

“This is prime Williamsburg,” said MNS Real Estate’s CEO Andrew Barrocas of North Williamsburg, including Bedford Avenue and the strip of new towers by the Williamsburg waterfront, where rents have reached such heights that some residents have felt pushed back to Manhattan to get better deals. “The proximity of the L train is a key driver…plus the amenities that have built up there, like restaurants and shops.”

The southernmost section of Williamsburg, meanwhile, includes several public housing developments and is closer to the J, M and Z train station, he noted. The section, with a high population of Hasidic Jewish families, was also considered an area with one of the city’s highest concentrations of poverty in a report last year by the Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York.

East Williamsburg south of the BQE is slightly more expensive than the southernmost section, with average rents of $2,400, the map shows. And the area south of the bridge above the BQE is $2,900, the map shows.

Meanwhile, North Williamsburg east of the BQE (including Cooper Park and the area around the Lorimer Street and Graham Avenue L train stations) costs nearly as much as “prime” North Williamsburg, at $3,324.

“You see a big push going out toward East Williamsburg into Bushwick along the L. And everything in South Williamsburg, near Broadway and especially the waterfront…is becoming a lot more desirable,” Barrocas said of the areas where prices were increasing.

The gentrification of North Williamsburg — which has been occurring the past several years since the area’s rezoning for residential and commercial use in 2005 — is no news for local residents, but the exact price discrepancies between the different parts of the neighborhood reaffirmed a “concerning” trend, local City Councilman Stephen Levin said.

“It’s obviously shocking how high these rents are,” Levin said. “You look at other neighborhoods in Brooklyn and it seems like [North Williamsburg] is the outlier. These are Manhattan-level rents and it’s very concerning, because I hear from constituents all the time who don’t have rent protection. It’s difficult for working people to make that type of rent.”

Levin noted the extreme variety of different areas of Williamsburg made it much more diverse than one typical neighborhood.

“In a lot of ways it’s a composite of different sub-neighborhoods. I’m not surprised to see those discrepancies because there are hotter areas than others,” he said. “But the high-end prices are being driven by gentrification that’s clearly in overdrive.”

But Barrocas said the price increases were partly “natural” and in keeping with an increasing cost of land and maintenance costs.

“To a large degree rents need to increase. It’s natural,” Barrocas said. “It’s not just because of the gentrification of the area — water’s more, sewage is more, the cost of land is more. Prices are increasing across the board.”

View full article here:

http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20130506/williamsburg/rent-higher-prime-north-williamsburg-than-south#slideshow_modal_slot_1

As anyone who is planning on moving here soon knows, if you don’t live in Williamsburg then you’ll be really far from your friends and your job and you’ll find life really frustrating and impossible when it’s supposed to be new and exciting and easy. You might as well stay in D.C.! This may explain why North Williamsburg (north of Grand Street, west of the BQE) boasts rents that are $1,600 higher than Williamsburg’s Southside. “This is prime Williamsburg,” MNS Real Estate CEO Andrew Barrocas told DNAinfo, while haughty men in pristine white robes sat on balconies above North 4th Street, nibbling spiced meats as workers below paved Kent Avenue with liquid bullion.

Average rents for studios/one & two bedroom apartments are $3,499 in Prime Williamsburg (there is no Closet Index—yet). Cross the border from Prime to South and the average rent dips down to $2,900. East of the BQE and south of Broadway, Double South Williamsburg,™ the average rent is $1,900. A report issued last year by the Citizen’s Committee for Children of New York noted that the area is marked by pockets of “Extreme poverty.”

“It’s obviously shocking how high these rents are,” Councilmember Stephen Levin, who represents Williamsburg, told the website. “It’s difficult for working people to make that type of rent. In a lot of ways it’s a composite of different sub-neighborhoods. I’m not surprised to see those discrepancies because there are hotter areas than others, but the high end prices are being driven by gentrification that’s clearly in overdrive.”

Overdrive, or Natural Selection? “To a large degree rents need to increase. It’s natural,” Barrocas, MNS’ CEO said. It’s not just because of the gentrification of the area—water’s more, sewage is more, the cost of land is more. Prices are increasing across the board.” Don’t even get us started on the contracts for those goddamned Virtual Doormen unions.

View full article here:
http://gothamist.com/2013/05/06/prime_williamsburg_rents_1600_highe.php

Call them the in-betweeners. They’re too small for the top firms list and too big for the boutiques. They’re New York City’s mid-size residential firms.

And for the first time this year, The Real Deal compiled a list ranking these firms by dollar volume of listings.

The firms — which this year had between 50 and roughly 240 agents — have recovered from the difficult market of the last few years and are now looking to grow, either by opening new offices and renovating old ones, hiring more brokers or expanding their core businesses.

“The market just has been steadily improving since the bottom in 2009, and we’ve all benefitted from that,” said Frederick Peters, president of the 126-agent firm Warburg Realty, which logged in at No. 2 on TRD’s ranking with $188.1 million worth of exclusive listings. (TRD’s data was collected from listings provider Online Residential in mid-March.)

Nabbing the No. 1 slot was the 55-agent brokerage CORE — which took the top spot on last year’s boutique list. This year, the company had 70 exclusive listings worth some $344 million. Rounding out the top three was relative newcomer Keller Williams NYC, which had 68 listings worth $186.5 million.

Collectively, the top nine mid-size firms had 319 Manhattan residential listings worth a total of $909.5 million.Meanwhile, the 62-agent brokerage MNS is expanding its reach.

The firm — which was formed in 2011 as a merger between the Developers Group and the Real Estate Group New York — recently opened a new Williamsburg office at the Edge, which the firm has been marketing. The firm has two other offices in Manhattan. (Only Manhattan agents and listings were included in this ranking.)

“We have a good story in [Williamsburg],” MNS CEO Andrew Barrocas said. “We have a high concentration of apartments coming on the market and more condo sales than any other company out there in the Williamsburg market.”

While the firm is marketing a number of new rental and condo developments in the outer boroughs, “we did do a lot of business in the Manhattan market” this year, Barrocas said. For example, the firm is marketing the new development condo 2280 Frederick Douglass Boulevard in Harlem.

MNS stayed mostly consistent in terms of Manhattan dollar volume of listings, TRD found, increasing to $27.4 million in total dollar volume of listings from $27.1 million year-over-year. (Like CORE, MNS was also on the top boutiques list last year.)

Like many others, Barrocas attributed the lack of substantial growth to the work MNS has been doing with buyers as well as sellers (see related story, “Brokers turn to buyers to boost business”).

“There are probably 30 buyers to every one apartment that’s out there,” Barrocas said. “A lot of what we do work on is new developments and there were periods where there weren’t any new projects being planned.”

View the full article here: http://therealdeal.com/issues_articles/cornering-the-middle/

More than two years ago, a ceremonial groundbreaking took place for a project known as Triangle Court. The site of the 50-unit building (plus a diner and retail) is 456 Grand Street at the corner of Borinquen Place, once home to a gas station. The six-story building is designed by Koh Architecture, and the DOB shows a lot of active permits. We have no idea what the current state of the building is (if any kind souls living in the neighborhood would like to send us construction photos, that’d be swell), but MNS is starting to get the word out about the new units. BuzzBuzz Home spotted a teaser site and a preview listing on MNS that reveal the building will have one- and two-bedrooms renting for $2,000 to $6,000/month.

CLINTON HILL — At the end of 2012, the average sales price for new condos in Clinton Hill was $505,000.

Just three months later, Clinton Hill has seen an increase of $240,000, according to a report put out by real estate company MNS.

“In general there is a lot more activity in Clinton Hill,” said Luke Gorz of MNS. “We are seeing several new luxury developments and a rise in sales prices.”

In January a 2-bedroom unit at 11 Steuben St. sold for $815,000. Part of new development, The Absolute, the condo included “eco-friendly maple micro-strip hardwood floors, high ceilings, video intercom systems and floor-to-ceiling windows offering great city views, according to Street Easy.

The building also has a “fitness center and billiards room, a common roof deck, a large lobby and Fresh Direct storage freezer,” Street Easy noted.

What’s the draw?

“It depends on who you ask,” Gorz said. “I’d say proximity to Manhattan, great views, and still somewhat affordable prices.”

HELL’S KITCHEN — After three straight quarters of plummeting real estate prices in Hell’s Kitchen, the cost of homes in the neighborhood shot up by more than 15 percent in the first quarter, a new report shows.

The report by real estate firm MNS found that the median sale prices of apartments jumped by 15.7 percent during the first quarter of 2013 in Midtown West — which includes Hell’s Kitchen, Clinton, and the soon-to-be-bustling Hudson Yards — and the brokerage predicts prices will keep going up.

According to the report, the median price per square foot in the area jumped from $1,308 in the last quarter of 2012 to $1,514 in the first quarter of 2013.

The spike comes after residential prices dropped for three straight quarters in 2012, a trend MNS CEO Andrew Barrocas attributed to a lack of new inventory coming to the market.

With Hudson Yards under construction and the 7 Train extension set to open in 2014, Barrocas said there were a lot of customers interested in snatching up property before the neighborhood explodes with activity.

“What’s happening in the area is you’re starting to see pricing starting to come back,” he said. “People want to get into the market where they see a lot of infrastructure coming in Hudson Yards and with the train going there.”

Barrocas added that the recent dip in pricing in the area was largely because of developers halting plans to build between 2008 and 2010, meaning few new buildings came online in 2012.

Many of the apartments sold in the first quarter of 2013 were on the larger end — 38.5 percent of them were more than 1,500 square feet. For those units, the median price in the area came in at $1,914 per square foot.

The latest jump in median price was the biggest in all of Manhattan so far in 2013, the report found, and Barrocas noted that he wouldn’t be surprised if that trend continues throughout the year.

“This is the very early stages of it, but the writing’s on the wall in terms of what’s going to happen,” he said.

“We expect to see a pricing increase in that area — the demand is certainly there.”

MNS, the Brooklyn real estate firm published their first quarter 2013 Brooklyn New Development Market Report (pdf). MNS’ New Development Market Report tracks the market trends with a quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year comparison throughout Brooklyn on both a citywide and neighborhood basis. New development data was compiled from the Automated City Register Information System (ACRIS) for sponsor sales that traded during the First Quarter of 2013 (01/01/13 – 03/31/13). All data summarized is on a median basis.

Included in this research are walk-up and elevator new development condominium buildings, as well as new conversion condominiums if the sales were applicable sponsor transactions. Excluded from the report are all cooperative sales.

Some highlights of the Brooklyn report include the following:

Low inventory continues to influence the market, Brooklyn new development sales were down 98.86% from last quarter.

Low inventory translated to higher prices per square foot; PPSF prices rose 8.0%, from $684 ppsf during the past quarter to $739 during the current quarter.

Brooklyn Neighborhood Highlights

Brooklyn Heights has the highest inventory in Brooklyn at 38%.

Clinton Hill had a majority of units trading over the $600K price range – considerably higher than the $505,000 median sales price during 4Q12

Downtown Brooklyn was able to generate a median sales price increase of 21% since the previous quarter. More specifically, the BellTel Lofts at 365 Bridge Street closed the quarter with total new development sales just under $8 million, representing 8.6% of all sponsor sales throughout Brooklyn.

MNS states, “Continuing the negative trend from the previous quarter, total volume of new development sales in the Brooklyn market decreased from $146 million to $83 million. In addition, a total of 88 transactions closed during the current quarter, as compared with 175 during the previous quarter. Low inventory continues to influence the market, especially in boroughs such as Bay Ridge, Fort Greene, Gowanus and Kensington where no new development sales occurred”

According to the US Census Bureau, and as mentioned by the Bloomberg Administration, “more people are moving into NYC than are moving out for the first time since 1950”. Furthermore, “the largest percentage change occurred in Brooklyn, where the population grew by 2.4%”, representing a total of 60,900 people. In addition, the availability of low interest rates, strong rental market, and inexpensive land prices as compared to Manhattan, over 70% of all new developments in NYC are scheduled to enter the Brooklyn market.”

Dumbo continues its very low inventory (especially new development) and had 3% of total new development sales in Brooklyn in Q1 2013. However it had the highest median sales price at $1,065,000. As the larger condo units are sold later this year at 185 Plymouth and Dumbo Townhouses, the median prices and price per square feet will increase.

For the full report, go to MNS.

There are hardly any new homes available for sale in Brooklyn, and that is pushing prices sky high, reported several outlets, based on a report from real-estate firm MNS. Lenders have been reluctant to lend for condo buildings, so most of the new builds coming on the market now are rentals, even if they were originally slated to be condos. Four years ago, some new condos sold at “fire sale prices” of 20 percent off or more, and now those same units are selling for nearly twice the price, said The New York Post. New development sales inventory in Brooklyn in the first quarter “was down a whopping 98 percent from the fourth quarter of 2012, according to the latest reports from brokerage MNS,” said Curbed, because “there just aren’t a lot of new apartments coming to market.” The lack of supply of new builds pushed prices per square foot up 8 percent, according to Curbed. Incredibly, over in Clinton Hill, the average sales price for new condos jumped from $505,000 to $745,000 in three months, according to DNAinfo, based on the MNS report. Do you think there will be any relief soon?

Looking for a new pad? Act quick or you may lose your chance.

Inventory in the real estate market is in extremely high demand this spring thanks in part to fewer available spots, rental prices increasing earlier than expected and a higher employment rate that is arming people with more money to spend, according to experts.

While buying property in the boroughs is always competitive, a lack of new property becoming available in the last few years makes the struggle for digs even more taxing this season.

“It’s going to be a very competitive market because there’s not a lot of new inventory coming online this year,” said Gary Malin, president at Citi Habitats.

The Manhattan rental vacancy rate has ebbed slightly, at 1.41% in the first quarter according to a Citi Habitats market report, up from 1.22% a year ago.

Malin added that since the vacancy rate is low and the rental process is so expensive, many people right now are looking to buy.

The market as whole poses a challenge this spring, but here’s what to expect if you’re looking for an apartment:

Buying

The buying market is also a tense situation, experts said.

According to a report released today by real estate group MNS, new development inventory on the sales side in Manhattan dropped 53.94% between the last quarter of 2012 and the first of 2013.

Andrew Barrocas, CEO of MNS, said this drop is significant and attributed it to three causes.

The first, he said, is that there is currently a huge demand for large-sized apartments worth $2,000 per square foot and up.

As a result, developers are converting buildings that used to hold 100 units into 20 to 35-unit developments, he said.

Another reason Barrocas cited is that banks are more willing to lend out money to buyers as the economy improves.

In addition, during the economic downturn, few developments were planned as developers faced financial uncertainty. Now that the economy is doing better, more inventory is being planned out, and inventory numbers will rise in the next 12 to 24 months, Barrocas said.

“You are going to see a decrease in the amount of inventory on the market for a little bit,” he explained. “You started really seeing a lot more [developers, equity traders] getting active at the end of 2011, 2012 as the market came back, consumer confidence came back, [and] banks started opening up and started lending on the condo side.”

But despite the low inventory numbers, Malin said the interest in new developments is so high that people are buying apartments off the floor plans up to a year in advance, which was a rarity in recent years.

For example, according to Corcoran, 56 Leonard, a 60-story and 145-residence tower in TriBeCa designed by Swiss architects Harzog & de Meuron, moved more than $450 million in inventory and reached more than 50% sold since it opened for sale in late February.

In addition 101 W. 87th St., a 62-residence new development that opened for sale four months ago, has already reached 85% sold, according to Corcoran.

Commercial

James Famularo, managing director at New York Commercial Real Estate Services, said business from a commercial standpoint is so busy he had to hire new staff to prepare for spring.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that it’s going to be a phenomenal spring,” he said. “Before the vacancies come online, we’re finding deals for them. It’s amazing.”

One building Famularo said is hot right now is 206 Spring St., where Chef Michael White has plans to open a new steakhouse.

“This is a good time for everyone,[but] people who want property have to move quickly,” he said.

Famularo also warned that getting a loan from the bank isn’t as easy as it used to be, and to be prepared with 30% to 35% of the cost ready for a down payment.

Hot nabes

According to Justin Schuss, founder of RentalEngine.com, a site that aggregates no-fee listings from around the web, “Murray Hill, East Harlem, Midtown West [are] where you can get a bargain for your money. Walk-ups and elevator buildings there too are reasonable, while there’s still close proximity to transit.”

The areas below 23rd Street in Manhattan continue to be popular as well, he said.

Chelsea Park, at 260 W. 26th St., a new full-service, 204-residence luxury rental development that offers amenities such as a rooftop deck with a wet bar and outdoor showers, is doing very well so far, he said.

According to StreetEasy.com, another listing site, rentals in Chelsea Park are going for an average of $4,134 a month.

“I think this building is really going to be making a splash on the market this spring,” he said.

Another building Schuss suggested looking at is 27 on 27th in Long Island City, a 27-story luxury rental building which also offers amenities such as stainless steel GE kitchen appliances, a 24-hour concierge and a library.

It is in close proximity to Manhattan, located near the Queens Plaza M, N and R train stop.

Another building Schuss recommended is the luxurious new Riverwalk Crossing on Roosevelt Island, a waterfront rental development that boasts amenities such as a swimming pool and an entertainment lounge, at 405 Main St.

Apartments for rent on StreetEasy from Riverwalk Crossing are going for an average of $3,361 a month.

Over in Brooklyn, Gowanus and Bushwick continue to gain popularity, with Bedford-Stuyvesant joining the line.

“People with higher incomes are really moving in there,” Schuss said of Bed-Stuy. “It’s a bull market and everyone just loves all these new areas.”

***

Looking to Rent

The real estate market is hot this spring, as New Yorkers emerge from their hibernations, ready to relocate in the warmer weather. We spoke with some residents-on-the-move to see what their experiences are like this year.

Betty Banks, 25, a PhD student at New York University studying history, is moving from Stuyvesant Town this summer.

What areas are you looking at? I don’t have set areas, but I’d like to be in Manhattan, below 120th Street. Realistically that would be the Upper East Side or East Midtown. But I’m also looking in parts of Brooklyn near the parks, like the edge of Crown Heights or even Park Slope, but that can be expensive.

What are some of the obstacles? There’s cost. I can’t afford to live by myself. Also, I know it’s good that the market moves so quickly, but that’s a challenge too. My current lease runs out while I’m away this summer, and I can’t find a place before I leave.

How are you looking? At the moment I’m looking online, but I will probably use a broker. Right now I’m also asking all of my friends if they’ve heard of places.

How long have you been looking? I need a place in August and my lease is up in July when I’ll be away, so I’m just starting out. I’m starting early because I’ve never looked for an apartment in the city before.

Looking to Buy

Andrew Dumas, 31, works in sales at a digital media company. He is currently awaiting co-op approval on an apartment in Chelsea.

What areas are you looking at? I started looking in Brooklyn, but since a year ago I’ve been looking at places on the West Side, so Chelsea, West Village.

What are some of the obstacles? Just being patient and trying to find the right place. Once you find the apartment you like, you have to be incredibly aggressive to get it. It’s a mix of finding that ideal place and acting fast enough to get.

How are you looking? I didn’t know anything about how to buy, I didn’t know what was the value, so I used a broker from the beginning.

How long have you been looking? I’ve been looking for the past year or so. We’ve agreed on the price, I need to go in front of the co-op board and get approved by them. The bank needs to get my mortgage underwritten. I’m waiting on the final contract now.

Inventory is low all over town, folks, which is leading to some pretty interesting figures when it comes to first-quarter sales in new developments. Because there just aren’t a lot of new apartments coming to market, in Brooklyn new development sales inventory was down a whopping 98% from the fourth quarter of 2012, according to the latest reports from brokerage MNS. A lack of supply also means that prices per square foot for new developments were up 8% all over the borough since the last quarter—plus, median prices also rose in that timespan, jumping 21% in DoBro alone, for example, which was primarily the result of the BellTel Lofts. Dumbo had the highest median sales price, though, the only neighborhood in Brooklyn to top $1 million in Q1.

At least compared with Brooklyn, the isle of Manhattan saw more apartments in new developments come to market—but not enough to post an increase. In Q1, new development sales volume totaled $340 million, but that’s a 58% decrease from last quarter. But when compared with a year ago, the median price for new development units has climbed by 20%. Of particular note, over the last two years Soho’s median sales price for new developments more than doubled to a total of $3.8 million, trumping all other neighborhoods in the borough. Take that, Upper West Side, you runner-up you! Tribeca’s price per square foot also bounced up by 12% from Q4 2012. Fewer apartments mean higher prices—we know the drill by now, right?

· Manhattan New Development Report [MNS]
· Brooklyn New Development Report [MNS]
· Rental Market Report coverage [Curbed]

Greenpoint has received a lot of attention lately for its role as the setting for the HBO mega-hit-series “Girls.” That exposure, brokers say, has boosted the neighborhood’s rental market. “We get more and more calls there for rentals every day,” said David Behin of the brokerage MNS.

And while the twenty-something crowd at Grumpy’s Café — the Meserole Avenue hangout featured on the show — probably can’t afford to buy real estate, the Greenpoint residential sales market is also seeing an uptick.

Sometimes referred to as “Little Poland” due to its large population of Polish immigrants, Greenpoint’s housing stock is composed mostly of low-rise brownstones and attached single-family houses. The area has virtually no co-ops, noted Jonathan Miller, CEO of appraisal firm Miller Samuel.

Along with Williamsburg, the Greenpoint waterfront was rezoned in 2005 from industrial to mixed-use, but the downturn halted much of the planned residential development there. Now that the economy is improving, however, a slew of new residential buildings are popping up, including two massive rental projects: Park Tower Group’s 5,000-unit Greenpoint Landing and a 210-unit project by the Domain Companies. The two are the first large-scale residential projects in Greenpoint since the rezoning.

Plans for two other large residential developments — one by the Chetrit Group and another by Red Sky Capital — have not been made public, and neither developer returned calls for comment.

The neighborhood also has nearly a dozen boutique condo buildings on the market or in the works. And the units in those projects are selling quickly amid high demand and low inventory, said David Maundrell, president of the brokerage aptsandlofts.com, which is marketing several new buildings in the neighborhood, including 145 McGuinness Boulevard, 287-299 McGuinness Boulevard, 141 Dupont Street and 98 Clay Street.

Prices are on the rise, too.

The average price per square foot for a Greenpoint condo was $739 in the fourth quarter of 2012, jumping 22.2 percent from $605 per square foot in the same quarter of 2011, according to data from Miller Samuel. The average condo sales price, meanwhile, grew slightly to $610,048 in the fourth quarter, up from $601,070 in the same period of the previous year.

Meanwhile, rents in existing buildings are skyrocketing, brokers said.

Bram Lefevere, vice president with brokerage Miron Properties, estimated that Greenpoint rents increased by more than 30 percent in 2012, and said he expects a similar increase in 2013.

“A decent two-bedroom two years ago rented for $1,900,” Lefevere said. “Last year, it went up to $2,400, and this year it’s going to be $2,800.”

Still, Greenpoint’s lack of subway access will likely limit price growth.

It currently takes two subways or a ferry to get to Manhattan, and many area residents walk over the Pulaski Bridge to Long Island City to catch the 7 subway line, Behin said.

The city is looking into adding stops to the G line, but for now, “Greenpoint is getting rents of $45 to $50 a foot, and I think landlords would get 20 to 25 percent more if you had better transportation,” Behin said.

Besides kid-friendly restaurants and baby strollers, Brownstone Brooklyn neighborhoods — think Park Slope, Boerum Hill — are amassing something else: more townhouse listings and sales over $3 million.

The uptick has been staggering — and Park Slope exemplifies it. Right now, for example, the neighborhood has 10 townhouses above $3 million on the market. This year’s first quarter is building on 2012’s final quarter, when the market had eight townhouse listings in the $3 million-plus category.

By comparison, 2011’s fourth quarter had only one townhouse listing above $3 million.

Park Slope’s rash of expensive listings means the average closed sales price for all the neighborhood’s townhouses is up considerably, too.

That number skyrocketed 40 percent to $1.7 million in the fourth quarter of last year, up from $1.2 million in the same period of 2011, according to data provided by appraiser Jonathan Miller. By contrast, the average sale price for Manhattan townhouses increased 6 percent year-over-year in 2012 to $5.3 million, according to the Douglas Elliman townhouse report.

Brokers attribute the price hikes to a tight inventory.

“In Brooklyn, townhouses [are particularly] hot right now,” said Jennifer Johnsen, executive director of sales at MNS.

The supply of Brooklyn and Manhattan townhouses is at a seven-year low right now, she said. In Manhattan, townhouses make up a small portion of housing — 3 percent of sales, which drives many buyers to look in Brooklyn, she added.

“Brooklyn offers the best of all worlds when you are out-priced from Manhattan townhome purchasing,” Johnsen said.

The short supply of homes coupled with the pull of the Brownstone Brooklyn neighborhoods explain the price increases, according to Patricia Neinast, a senior vice president at the Corcoran Group’s Park Slope office.

“There’s not enough inventory to handle the amount of buyers,” said Neinast, who recently received a full-price offer for 113 Prospect Park West, a townhouse she’d listed for $4.75 million with her daughters, Kelly and Kristin Neinast.

Buyers realize they can get more space for fewer dollars than in Manhattan.

“You get more bang for your buck here,” said Jackie Lew, an executive vice president at Halstead Property’s Park Slope office.

The sales trend is strongest in Park Slope, she said, but high-priced sales are picking up in other Brownstone Brooklyn neighborhoods, such as Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill and Brooklyn Heights.

In Cobble Hill, for example, the average price of townhouse sales in last year’s fourth quarter hit $2.4 million, up from $1.2 million in the same period in 2011 — a whopping 108 percent. In Brooklyn Heights, the average sales price was $3.6 million, still well over that pricey $3 million benchmark, but a dip of 22 percent from $4.7 million the year prior. (It’s worth noting that the generally small number of townhouse sales in each neighborhood may exaggerate percentage change figures).

Lew, with Park Slope co-executive vice president Marc Wisotsky, sold a townhouse in January at 848 Carroll Street for $3.6 million.

Now the duo has the 50-foot-wide Tracy Mansion at 105 Eighth Avenue on the market, asking a sky-high $18 million.

While value is a strong pull, an even bigger group of Manhattanites are being charmed by Park Slope’s “small-town feel” than before, said Peter Grazioli, a Park Slope–based Halstead agent, who listed a $3.8 million single-family townhouse at 43 Eighth Avenue in January and sold it within 48 hours — at asking price.

“It’s always been an active townhouse market,” Grazioli said. “But in the past year, the Brooklyn inventory has dried up.”

Now, he added, when a home in Park Slope hits the market, “it’s high on people’s radar.”

But he is far from alone. Big Data — the ability to analyze massive amounts of information in a high-tech and sophisticated way — has become a new buzz phrase. Indeed, it’s being touted as a game changer in politics, healthcare and every industry in between.

Both Bloomberg and President Barack Obama poured extensive resources (and cash) into creating number-crunching operations that helped them target voters. Now experts say it’s time for the real estate industry to tap into Big Data.

Just last month, New York University’s Schack Institute of Real Estate held a conference focusing on the phenomenon. The title of the symposium: “Big Data and Disruptive Innovation: Is the Real Estate Industry Next?”

But already, Big Data has begun to shape New York’s real estate industry. On the public side, for example, the Bloomberg Administration has brought a host of dusty tomes of public real estate records online and made them easily searchable for brokers, developers and private real estate companies. In the private sector, Trulia and Zillow have sprouted up to fill the information void for real estate agents. Their online databases provide a treasure trove of knowledge — everything from information about whether consumers are prequalified for mortgages to home-purchasing intent gauged by analyzing online search patterns, said Stephen Rossi, Trulia’s director of agent marketing.

For Stan Humphries, Zillow’s chief economist, the rise of Big Data means brokers are no longer the gatekeepers of information.

“The ubiquity of what we’ve introduced,” Humphries said, “does mean that consumers are coming to agents with a lot,” including knowledge of average home prices in a market and an understanding of long-term future value.

Now a new crop of real estate start-ups is following their lead. Companies such as CompStak, a commercial leasing database, and BlockAvenue, which collects lifestyle data on micro-neighborhoods, are finding enough interest in what they’re doing to attract investors.

This month, The Real Deal looked at industry players testing the potential between the spreadsheets.

A Brokerage by the Numbers: MNS

MNS is a residential brokerage marketing itself as not just data-savvy, but capable of crunching valuable numbers for developers.

The biggest financial opportunity, said CEO Andrew Barrocas, lies in being involved from the pre-construction stage.

“A developer will ask us what to build, how big it should be, all before there is even a shovel in the ground,” he said. Depending on the size and scope of the project, the developer would pay MNS a consulting fee beginning in the tens of thousands of dollars, though Barrocas said that for regular clients the pre-construction consulting was just “part of the deal.”

Through an internal database (aggregated from public and proprietary sources), MNS analyzes metrics such as price per square foot, unit mix and average time on market to determine what kind of project would work best in a given area.

“For example, right now you bring a large project to the Brooklyn Heights markets, it’s hungry for that,” Barrocas said.

Clients include RAL Companies’ Robert Levine, the developer of One Brooklyn Bridge Park, and Jeffrey Levine of Douglaston Development.

“Most of the companies that we compete with,” Barrocas said, “will tell the developer, ‘you give me this, you’ll get this.’ We can tell him a 950-square-foot two-bedroom in a rental may yield him $55 per square foot, but I can show him that we could get $65 dollars per square foot if we build studios.”

Read Full Article here: http://therealdeal.com/issues_articles/behind-big-data/

Image via Lacenleather

So, we can all relax a little. But only a little! After that dream-crushing 17 percent rent spike in February, a new MNS real estate report indicates that average rents in the neighborhood evened out over the past month, dropping down 12 percent from what was deemed an “abnormal” high.

Pretty good news, right? Well, kind of. Even if they aren’t rising at quite as rapid a clip as it seemed, area rents are still going up both quickly and steadily. The spike, reportedly, was largely related to the opening of expensive new rentals at 949 Willoughby Ave, which temporarily inflated average rents. Other rentals continued to open up in March, but at a lower price point, according to MNS CEO Andrew Barrocas.

“Rent’s still higher [in Bushwick] than it was before and it’s going to go even higher,” Barrocas told DNAinfo. “In the next 12-24 months you’re going to see a continued increase in the Bushwick market, especially as prices in areas like Williamsburg and East Williamsburg go up, and it causes a ripple effect.” Disheartening, sure, but also not anything too new. Until further notice, people will continue paying totally inappropriate amounts of money for lofts, and landlords will continue charging them.

Rents in Brooklyn fell 1.77 percent from February to March, according to a monthly rental report out from MNS. Over in Bushwick, rents are now back to “normal” after a big leap of 17 percent in February, which the report attributed to one building: 949 Willoughby Avenue. The monthly report is based on MNS’s own database of asking rents for MNS listings as well as data from REBNY Real Estate Listings Source (RLS), OnLine Residential (OLR.com) and R.O.L.E.X. (Real Plus). Just to double check, we took a quick look at Craigslist this morning, and sure enough, asking rents in Bushwick have increased dramatically since we lived there in 2009. FWIW, one-bedrooms started at $1,549, with a three bedroom listed as high as $2,800. (Three years ago, we rented a three-bedroom for $1,600, and there were plenty of one-bedroom railroads on the market for $1,100 and $1,200.) MNS put average March rents in Bushwick at $1,750 for a studio, $1,883 for a one-bedroom, and $1,977 for a two-bedroom.

After “abnormal” leaps in February hiked the neighborhood’s rents by nearly 20 percent, prices dropped back down in March to “more common” rates, a new report by MNS Real Estate says.

The February rent increase of 17 percent — which MNS’ CEO Andrew Barrocas said was unprecedented in the city and “incredible” — was partly due to the opening of new high-end buildings like 949 Willoughby Ave., Barrocas said, noting that a wider variety of less expensive inventory opened in March.

“A new product came into the area at a higher price point,” he said of the Willoughby building. “If there’s no new inventory in that building left the next month, prices drop back down…Rent’s still higher [in Bushwick] than it was before and it’s going to go even higher.”

In March, a wider spread of other rentals that opened up at lower prices caused a 12 percent price drop, the report found.

Still, rents were far more expensive than last March, with studios an average of $1,750 compared to last year’s $1,265, one bedrooms were $1,882 compared to last year’s $1,612, and two-bedrooms averaged $1,977 compared to last year’s $1,871.

The area’s rapid boom has sparked recent concern among longtime residents, including members of Bushwick’s Community Board 4, which is pushing to rezone the neighborhood to stave off high-rise developments.

Barrocas said that March’s rent decrease “absolutely does not” mean prices will continue to drop.

“In next 12 — 24 months you’re going to see a continued increase in the Bushwick market,” Barrocas maintained, “especially as prices in areas like Williamsburg and East Williamsburg go up, and it causes a ripple effect.”

Read more: http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20130403/bushwick/rents-drop-normal-after-bushwicks-abnormal-price-leap-report-shows#ixzz2PVxMXDUQ

After an almost 20 percent hike in February, rents in  Bushwick  dropped in March, according to a new report by MNS Real Estate seen by DNAinfo.

February’s “incredible” rent increase of 17 percent was due in part  to the opening of a few top-drawer projects in the neighborhood such as 949 Willoughby Avenue, MNS chief executive officer Andrew Barrocas told DNAinfo.

In March, a considerable amount of new inventory hit the market but many of the new properties were more affordable, bringing rents back in line, he said.

“A new product came into the area at a higher price point,” he said of the Willoughby building, “and if there’s no new inventory in that building left the next month prices drop back down.

Barrocas predicted, however, that Bushwick’s rent increase was not a one-time occurrence. “Rent’s still higher [in Bushwick] than it was before and it’s going to go even higher.”

Rents in March, even with the drop, still far eclipsed those from the same time last year. Average rent for a studio  was $1,750, compared with  $1265. A one-bedroom went for  $1,882, compared with $1,612; and average rent for a two-bedroom was $1,977, compared with $1,871.

The spiraling prices have been a source of concern for longtime residents, including members of Bushwick’s Community Board 4, who are pushing for a rezoning of the neighborhood that would keep high-rise projects at bay. [DNAinfo] –Hiten Samtani

Upper West Side $2.35 million
Bedrooms: 2 Bathrooms: 2 Square feet: 1,562
Common charges: $1,439
In the land of brownstones, here’s a chance to live 11 floors above West 80th Street and soak up the “expansive” city views. The full-floor residence features a main living space with high ceilings and “oversized” windows on two sides. Beyond, the master bedroom boasts a dressing area and a private balcony. Agents: Robert Earl and Virginia Incalcaterra, MNS, 917-239-4425 and 917-743-0731