Items of Interest SUPPLY OF EXISTING HOMES GROWS AS SALES PLUMMET Sales of previously owned homes - including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops - fell 8 percent in September below August and 19.1 percent below one year earlier, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Commented Lawrence Yun, NAR senior economist: "Mortgage problems were peaking back in August, when many of the September closings were being negotiated, and that slowed sales notably in higher priced areas that rely more on jumbo loans." The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $211,700 in September, down 4.2 percent from September 2006, when it was $220,900. "Because there were fewer transactions at the upper end of the market, there is a downward distortion reflected in a lower national median home price," Yun said, noting that home prices continue to trend up in the Northeast and in the condo sector. "In other areas not dependent on jumbo loans, such as much of the Midwest, prices are rising," he continued. Total housing inventory inched up 0.4 percent at the end of September to 4.4 million existing homes available for sale, representing a 10.5-month supply at the current sales pace, up from a downwardly revised 9.6-month supply in August. SINGLE-FAMILY SALES RISE, BUT THEY'RE WAY BELOW 2006 Sales of new single-family homes rose 4.8 percent in September, recovering a portion of the substantial ground they lost in the previous month, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. "Given the substantial downward revisions to home sales numbers for June, July and August, it must be said that this is still a fundamentally weak report," noted Chief Economist David Seiders of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). Inventory edged down for a sixth consecutive month to an 8.3-month supply at the current sales pace, still high on a historical basis but down from a 9.0-month supply in August. FINAL 3RD QUARTER REPORT SEES TEMPERED SALES "Manhattan remains
contrarian, but with reasonable expectations," according
to Jonathan Miller in the report that he writes for Prudential
Douglas Elliman. (This newsletter previously published highlights
STUDIO PRICES ARE GOING THROUGH THE ROOF In new developments, the $1 million studio has become almost commonplace, observes the New York Times. To justify these high prices, studios in many of these new condos have grown in size, and in some cases are nearly twice as big as the more traditional 450-square-foot box. These bigger, more expensive spaces tend to appeal to buyers of pieds-a-terre and investors, not to the typical first-time home buyer. In yet another sign of how strong the studio market has gotten, the price per square foot for studios in some Manhattan neighborhoods is now higher than that for one-bedrooms. Studios in the financial district, for example, are selling for $1,012 a square foot, compared with $948 a square foot for one-bedrooms. Brokers agree that studios at all prices are in demand right now and are often selling faster than larger apartments; the supply simply has not kept up with demand. But many developers are now deciding to build more studios in future projects. ENGINEERS AND CONTRACTORS FACE NEW CITY SCRUTINY The Buildings Department says it is finally cracking down on the unscrupulous engineers, architects and contractors who have ignored the law and damaged neighborhoods during New York's building boom. With a $6 million funding boost and 48 new employees, the department has used lawyers, investigators and inspectors to scrutinize operators and build cases against the worst offenders; it hopes to put 50 of them out of business. "What we're trying to do is identify the worst actors, and now we're focusing scrutiny on them," Buildings Commissioner Patricia Lancaster told the Daily News. "We're changing from a reactive model to a proactive one, because this has to stop." Lancaster said a special excavation task force has issued stop-work orders on 167 sites - more than 20 percent of the ones it inspected - and a team now visits sites to ensure the orders are followed. She said the department also is cracking down on architects and engineers who build illegal eyesores by abusing their right to certify their own plans. When the Buildings Department audited 155 of those plans, it found problems with 80 percent of them. EDGAR BRONFMAN SELLS HIS TOWNHOUSE FOR $50 MILLION Oil tycoon Len Blavatnik paid that much for his friend Edgar Bronfman Jr.'s East 64th Street townhouse, the second biggest New York townhouse deal ever, says the New York Observer. Bronfman, the Seagram liquor heir-turned-music executive, paid just $4.375 million last decade for his townhouse. Blavatnik paid a few dollars shy of the $53 million mark set by the Harkness Mansion last year, which still stands as New York's most massive townhouse purchase. City records show that Blavatnik hasn't taken out any mortgages on his new house, which means that he paid his friend in cash. The buyer is a board member at Warner Music Group, where the seller is chairman and CEO. The Bronfmans had fit the house with a two-and-a-half-story indoor piazza with secret stairways, a bronze-shaded waxed-steel vestibule, a master bedroom and children's playroom with balconies, plus a glass-floored library terrace. THE PRICE DROPS FOR CLAIBORNE'S RANCH The price of the Montana ranch owned by the late Liz Claiborne has been cut 12 percent after a year on the market to $7.5 million from $8.5 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. Claiborne and Arthur Ortenberg, her 81-year-old husband and co-founder of her firm, assembled the 720-acre ranch in the 1980s. The ranch complex sits on a private lake and includes a main house of close to 9,000 square feet with an indoor pool and two (only two!) bedrooms. There's a two-bedroom guest house, an indoor riding arena, a caretaker's house and other outbuildings. HE HOPES TO LEAVE ON A HIGH NOTE Andrew Lloyd Webber's duplex apartment high up in Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue at 56th Street is going back on the market, says the New York Times. Webber paid $5.5 million for a 5,000-square-foot apartment on the 59th and 60th floors in 1987, according to property records. With an open layout that provides sweeping views of Central Park from most rooms, the apartment was put on the market in 1993 for $7.95 million and lingered for years without a buyer. It was last listed in 2000 for $15 million and did not attract a buyer. It is now on the market for $22.5 million, and Webber is about to buy an even grander Manhattan apartment. He's a slow learner. PRETTY APARTMENT FOR THIS ACTOR Richard Gere has bought an apartment in a New York City condominium project being built by artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel, reports the Wall Street Journal. The star of "Chicago" and, yes, "Pretty Woman," paid an undetermined amount for the place, but investment banker William J.B. Brady paid $15.5 million last month for a fourth-floor apartment. The artist, 55, is building a nine-story addition on top of a three-story former horse stable he owns in the West Village. The addition contains five residential units of about 18,500 square feet in total, records show. Each unit comes with outdoor space, private storage and access to a shared indoor pool as well as double-height ceilings, 6-foot-tall fireplaces and earthenware or marble tubs. Schnabel is using the lower three floors as an art studio and is keeping one apartment for himself. Although Schnabel has said the building's color is red, unhappy neighbors call it the "pink building." FOR MARISKA HARTIGAY, CASE CLOSED "Law & Order: SVU" detective Mariska Hartigay has collared a buyer for her downtown penthouse apartment - but not without knocking almost a third off the asking price, reports the New York Post. The actress and daughter of the late Jayne Mansfield, has sold her three-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath Beach Street duplex for $5.1 million, according to city transfers. Hartigay, who shared the apartment with her husband, actor/writer Peter Hermann, and the couple's year-old son, first listed the unit last February for nearly $6.5 million. They then slashed the price multiple times before it sold. NAPOLEON COULD HAVE SLEPT HERE IF HE WANTED TO Yves Saint Laurent and his business partner, Pierre Berge, have listed their estate in France's Normandy region again - but at a sharply lower price and acreage, says the Wall Street Journal. Now about 52 acres, the property is for sale at €12.5 million, or about $17.8 million. The entire 67-acre Deauville estate was first listed more than two years ago for €20 million, then withdrawn last year. The business partners are keeping a 970-square-foot "Russian dacha," or cottage, on approximately 15 acres. Landscaping and a separate entrance already set off their acreage. Saint Laurent, 71, and Berge, 76, bought the Napoleon III-era house in the 1970s and spent years rehabilitating it. The home, of more than 9,000 square feet, has three living rooms, two dining rooms and a winter garden. Each of the nine bedrooms is named after a character in Marcel Proust's "Remembrance of Things Past." No pretension there! The property on sale includes a waterfall, kennels, a helicopter pad, a guest apartment and staff quarters. Saint Laurent and Berge pair still own homes in New York, Paris, Marrakech and Tangiers. MORTGAGE RATES CLOSING IN ON A SIX-MONTH LOW The 30-year fixed-rate
mortgage (FRM) averaged 6.26 percent for the week, down from last
week's 6.33 percent, according to Freddie Mac. Last year at this
time, it was 6.31 percent and has not been RECENT BORROWERS ARE PAYING ON TIME More people are managing to keep up with payments on loans made in recent months, according to new data from First American LoanPerformance, a San Francisco research firm, reports the Wall Street Journal. The trend reflects more-conservative lending policies adopted by mortgage companies this year in the wake of a surge in defaults and foreclosures, said the firm's Mark Carrington. To assess recent results, LoanPerformance looks at loans that are four months old or less. During this year's second quarter, 6.6 percent of subprime loans in that category already had been blemished by payments at least 60 days overdue, LoanPerformance found. That was down from 7.2 percent in the first quarter and a peak of 7.6 percent in last year's third quarter. "It's still really high, but at least it's dropping now," Carrington said. LEGISLATION WOULD HOLD WALL STREET FIRMS LIABLE House Democrats have introduced legislation that would for the first time let homeowners sue Wall Street firms for relief from mortgages that the borrowers never had a realistic chance of repaying, according to the New York Times. The legislation, introduced by Rep. Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, would require any mortgage lender to verify that the borrower has a "reasonable ability to repay" based on documented income, credit history and debt level. "The people who package mortgages and sell them into the secondary market were a major cause of the single biggest world financial crisis since the Asian crisis" of 1997-8, Frank said, "and it's unthinkable that we would leave that undisturbed." Under the House bill, people who can show that they never had a reasonable ability to repay the loans would still have to pay for their homes, but would have new statutory power to demand better deals from the lenders. They could demand that their original mortgage lender offer a better loan. Or they could demand relief from the Wall Street firm that bought the mortgage and resold it to investors. The measure would prohibit incentives to brokers for steering borrowers to more expensive mortgages. And it would sharply restrict prepayment penalties. BANK OF AMERICA TO KEEP MORTGAGE BUSINESS IN-HOUSE It will stop offering home mortgages through brokers by the end of the year and, instead, will focus on lending directly to consumers, according to Reuters News in Realtor magazine. "We believe our long-term opportunity lies in maximizing our more competitive retail channels," Floyd Robinson, who runs the bank's consumer real estate operations, said in a statement. Other mortgage lenders have this year also reduced their reliance on brokers, including Wells Fargo, Washington Mutual and Wachovia. Bank of America made $95 billion of mortgage loans from January to June, ranking fifth nationwide, according to the newsletter Inside Mortgage Finance. COUNTRYWIDE IS REACHING OUT TO BORROWERS IN TROUBLE The company will be calling borrowers who are facing an adjustable-rate mortgage reset through the end of 2008 to offer them the opportunity calls to refinance or modify up to $16 billion of Countrywide loans. Said President and COO David Sambol: "Unprecedented times call for unprecedented remedies. We are determined to assist borrowers who have the willingness and wherewithal to remain in their homes, but need a little help to do it." Dedicated teams of Countrywide specialists will contact customers who are current in their payments and approaching a rate reset to ascertain the borrowers' circumstances and advise them about refinance and home preservation options. Moreover, for subprime borrowers who are currently delinquent and are experiencing financial difficulties as a result of a recent reset, Countrywide has implemented a simplified loan modification process. It is in the process of sending letters to these borrowers offering a pre-determined, pre- approved rate reduction. Countrywide encourages consumers to call the Countrywide home retention team at 800-669-6650. REFINANCINGS PUSH UP APPLICATIONS For the week ending Oct. 26, loan application volume increased 3.8 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. On an unadjusted basis, the growth was 3.6 percent; it was up 19.5 percent compared with the same week one year earlier. Although refinancings were 9.2 percent higher than the previous week, purchase applications dipped 0.7 percent. On an unadjusted basis, the purchase loan volume decreased 1.3 percent. Refinancing activity was at its highest level since the week ending last March 9. The refinance share of mortgage activity rose to 49.6 percent of total applications from 47.0 percent the previous week, and the adjustable-rate mortgage share of activity increased to 14.7 from 14.2 percent. THE NUMBER OF FORECLOSURE FILINGS DOUBLES IN A YEAR An estimated 446,726
properties were hit with foreclosure filings during the third
quarter, a 33.9 percent increase from the previous quarter and
more than double the number a year ago, according to N.Y. STATE ACCUSES APPRAISER AND LENDER OF CONSPIRACY Atty. Gen. Andrew Cuomo said that a major real estate appraisal company conspired with one of the largest mortgage lenders in the nation to inflate the appraised value of homes, reports Inman News. Cuomo is suing First American Corp. and its subsidiary eAppraiseIT, accusing the companies of caving in to pressure from Washington Mutual to use a list of preferred "proven appraisers" who allegedly provided inflated property appraisals. First America in a statement issued this afternoon said the Attorney General's lawsuit "has no foundation in fact or law." Said Cuomo: "First American and eAppraiseIT violated that independence when Washington Mutual strong-armed them into a system designed to rip off homeowners and investors alike." Citing e-mails that his investigation uncovered, he added: "The blatant actions of First American and eAppraiseIT have contributed to the growing foreclosure crisis and turmoil in the housing market." THE GREEN HOUSE IS GAINING WIDER ACCEPTANCE, STUDY SAYS Green home building products are gaining ground, according to a report by McGraw-Hill Construction and the National Association of Home Builders. It said the market for green homes is expected to rise from $2 billion to up to $20 billion over the next five years. Also, standard homes are becoming increasingly green, with home owners using green products for 40 percent of their remodeling work. IS IT HOT ENOUGH FOR YOU Record heating-oil prices mean high heating bills are on the way for eight million U.S. households - largely in New England and the Central Atlantic states – that rely on heating oil to run their furnaces each winter. Heating-oil futures have hit a record of $2.36 a gallon, up more than 40 percent since the start of the year. Weather forecasters are predicting a colder winter than last year, despite the unseasonably warm October in the Northeast. (And aren't they just as good as economist forecasters?) That's going to lift heating costs no matter what fuel a homeowner uses. Consumers who use heating oil, though, will feel the most pain. Their winter heating bill for the season is expected to average $1,785, compared with $891 for households that use natural gas, according to the Department of Energy. Political unrest in places such as Nigeria and Iraq, combined with Wall Street investors placing financial bets on higher energy prices, have lifted crude prices more than 43 percent since the beginning of the year. IT'S TIME TO BRING THOSE PLANTS INSIDE Tender houseplants should be brought indoors once nighttime temperatures fall consistently below 50 degrees. Examine foliage and stems carefully for pests, especially mites, scale insects and mealybugs. Spray infected plants with a horticultural oil before bringing them indoors. Soak the pot in a tub of lukewarm water for 30 minutes to kill soil-borne pests. Repot in the spring when new growth emerges. PUT IT OUT Finally, a fire extinguisher so good-looking you could give it as a gift, trumpets the Washington Post. HomeHero has successfully married safety and style with its sleek new Kitchen Fire Extinguisher ($24.97). Among its benefits is its unobtrusive look, so folks will be inclined to keep it out on the counter and within arm's length in an emergency. At 4.5 pounds and 16 inches high, it's lightweight, easy to handle and simple to use: Just pull the pin, aim and squeeze. The HomeHero Kitchen Fire Extinguisher is available at Home Depot. TIGHTENED LENDING HAS CUT DEMAND Declining availability of financing methods that allow people to buy a home without first accumulating a down payment is one of the key reasons for the housing slump, concludes new research published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, according to Business Week in Realtor magazine. The study points out that U.S. homeownership climbed from 64.2 percent of households in 1995 to 69.1 percent in early 2005. As "piggyback" or "combo" loans became harder and harder to get, the homeownership rate has declined, to 68.2 percent in the second quarter of 2007. Calculating the current number of U.S. households at 110 million, the change in the homeownership rate over the past two years has already subtracted almost 500,000 from the underlying demand for new homes, said economist Jan Hatzius of Goldman Sachs, and further tightening of the loan market could have an even greater impact. "Our current forecast calls for a decline in new home sales to a trough level of 650,000 by the first quarter of 2008, which we believe is one of the lowest estimates on Wall Street," the economist wrote. "However, the simple arithmetic [implied by the Atlanta Fed paper] suggests that this estimate could still prove much too optimistic." ECONOMISTS AT BUILDERS MEETING SEE BOTTOM IN 2008 Participating in the
National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Fall Construction
Forecast Conference, they predicted a turnaround starting in 2008.
NAHB Chief Economist David Seiders said the overall economy and
job growth continue to move ahead at a decent pace, core inflation
is under control, the late-summer credit crunch in mortgage markets
is showing signs of easing since the U.S. INVENTORY IS CLIMBING The total supply of vacant homes increased about 8 percent in the third quarter compared with the same quarter last year, while the home-ownership rate remained unchanged in the third quarter after three consecutive quarterly declines, the U.S. Census Bureau reported, according to Inman News. The home-ownership rate for the third quarter stood at 68.2 percent versus 69 percent in third-quarter 2006. The total inventory of U.S. housing units climbed from 126.2 million in third-quarter 2006 to 128.2 million in third-quarter 2007, a 1.6 percent gain. But the number of vacant housing units grew by 7.8 percent. The homeowner vacancy rate was 3.2 percent in principal cities, 2.4 percent in the suburbs, and outside metro areas was 2.6 percent. "When compared to a year ago, the homeowner vacancy rates in the suburbs and outside (metro areas) were higher respectively, while the rate inside principal cities was not statistically different," the Census Bureau said. THE RICH GET QUICKER A small group of wealthy people are paying big premiums to have houses erected in record time, observes the Wall Street Journal. Builders in wealthy suburbs such as Greenwich, Conn. and in resorts areas such as Aspen, Colo. say such projects represent a growing percentage of their business. To pull them off, specialized builders are deploying small armies of workers who often work seven days a week. For a Connecticut mansion, a contractor sent five dozen masons and laborers to build in two days a 480-foot stone wall that normally would take months to complete. The builders also use complex staging tactics to slash the time it takes to construct a house by half or even more. Going fast is expensive, with contractors charging a 20-100 percent more, depending on the work. Vincent D. Tyer III, whose Taconic Builders has offices in Oyster Bay and Westchester County, N.Y., says half of the custom luxury homes he is building are on an accelerated schedule. Don Lockard, whose Easton, Pa., firm specializes in custom cabinetry and woodworking, says accelerated projects make up more than three-quarters of his work. In Aspen, fast-track projects now account for 80 percent of Silich Construction's job portfolio. Beyond the added costs, homeowners on a fast schedule can be forced to compromise - doing without a complex roofline or elaborate carved moldings, for example. Or, they may be compelled to use plans devised by the builder. Most often, homeowners give up the right to dither over design decisions and must stick with choices once they are made. Because many high-end finishing treatments, including wire-brushing, staining and rubbing, need to be done by hand, an extra person on the job can create inconsistencies in custom finishes. HEAVEN HELP THEM Bob and Ricki Husick have come up with a new twist for attracting the attention of buyers: Whoever buys their four-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bath home in Pine, Pa. would get their money back after the Husicks die, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Not only that, but if the buyers are willing to care for the Husicks in their old age, they could also inherit the Husicks' retirement home in Arizona for a total estate now worth about $500,000. The couple has no heirs. "Why not go for the works? So if we're worth $2.5 million, you get it all," said Mr. Husick, 55, a former Wachovia mortgage broker who would like to continue working after he and his wife move to Arizona. "That's one way you get a built-in child or a built-in someone to care." If buyers prefer a more conventional arrangement, the Husicks are willing to sell their home, without any strings, for $399,900. The house, which the couple is selling themselves, has been on the market for 11 months. A Taste for the Townhouse (and Its Stairs) The urban townhouse holds a special allure for many residents of cities, especially in the East. In Boston, Philadelphia, the District of Columbia and, of course, New York City, among many other cities, the townhouse has long epitomized elegant living. Such dwellings, after all, long predate apartment houses and their historic stigma of places for folks who could afford only to rent. Quaint. Although times have obviously changed, with trophy apartments in the tens of millions of dollars changing hands daily, townhouses continue to command a premium. (Mayor Bloomberg paid $41 million for his townhouse on the Upper East Side.) The chief reason for their prices is their relative rarity. At the end of last year, for example, there were only 302 townhouses listed for sale, down from 405 at the end of 2005, according to the Miller Samuel appraisal firm in a report issued by Prudential Douglas Elliman. The townhouse market accounted for only 3.1 percent of all sales in 2006. Since the average sales price of a townhouse would be in the top 2.2 percent of the comparably priced apartment, the townhouse market falls predominantly at the upper end of the housing market. In 2006, the price per square foot of a townhouse averaged $856, and the average sales price was $4.082 million. For an apartment, the comparable figures were $1,031 and $1.295 million. The median for a townhouse was $2.7 million and, for an apartment, $830,000. Although only 275 townhouses sold during 2006, 8,493 condos and co-ops found buyers that year. Surprisingly, given the conventional wisdom about how much longer it takes to sell townhouses, their days on the market averaged 144 versus 146 for apartments. As with all real estate, location is everything when it comes to sale prices. In this report, townhouses seen recently range widely in price for reasons that will be clear from their descriptions. The first three are in Manhattan Avenue, which has a rich history. Manhattan Avenue Historic District Extending from West
104th to 106th streets, the Manhattan Avenue Historic District
consists mainly of row houses. It also includes two structures
built for General Memorial Hospital, on West 105th and 106th streets.
(The hospital moved to a new building on East 68th Street in 1939
and subsequently became known as Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer
Center.) Situated between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue,
Manhattan Avenue itself begins at West 100th Street and continues
north to 125th Street, where it merges with St. Nicholas Avenue.
Laid out as "New Avenue" during 1872-73, the thorough
became known as Manhattan Avenue at the urging of the West Side
Association. Following the panic of 1873, many businesses failed and New York City's economy entered a period of stagnation. Prices fell, unemployment increased and few new buildings were erected. Around 1879, however, conditions began to improve, setting the stage for construction throughout the Upper West Side. Real estate developers generally focused on the blocks closest to the elevated railroad stations, which according to one observer, "attracted the builder like magnetic points as the neighborhood emerged as the recognized speculative area of the city." During this initial period of development, Manhattan Valley attracted a significant group of hospitals and charitable organizations. Civil engineer Egbert L. Viele wrote: "There is no dampness here on the west side. There is a dry tonic atmosphere which is not felt elsewhere in the city. It is more healthy than elsewhere. Elderly people like it there much better, and with excellent reason." Among the first organizations were the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews and the Home for the Aged of the Little Sisters of the Poor on West 106th Street between Ninth and Tenth avenues. In 1890 the Society for the Relief of Half-Orphan and Destitute Children moved from Greenwich Village to a "more desirable location on Manhattan Avenue." In the blocks surrounding the district, the only extant structures of this type are the Association Residence for Respectable Aged Indigent Females, now a branch of Hostelling International-USA and the New-York Cancer Hospital. Construction of the former medical complex began in May 1884 and the hospital first admitted patients in December 1887. Before the 1880s there had been relatively little development in the area now called Manhattan Valley, with most residential buildings concentrated close to the 104th Street elevated station and a cluster of structures around the police precinct on 100th Street, between Columbus and Amsterdam avenues. House construction on the Upper West Side peaked between 1886 and 1889, the same period when all of the buildings in the historic district were built. By the mid-1880s, speculative developers were rapidly transforming Manhattan's Upper West Side into one of New York City's most desirable neighborhoods. In 1886, the New York Times reported: "The huge masses of rock which formerly met the eye, usually crowned by a rickety shack and a browsing goat are being blasted out of existence. Streets are being graded and thousands of carpenters and masons are engaged in rearing substantial dwellings where a year ago nothing was to be seen but market gardens and barren fields."
Typically, these structures are found on the long east-west streets, where property values were lower than the adjoining avenues and where multiple dwellings were generally built. This pattern, however, was reversed on Manhattan Avenue between West 104th and 106th streets, where single-family houses were erected. On smaller-than-average lots, some as shallow as 50 feet, these less costly homes were marketed to the middle-class. Notable for its picturesque character and handsome detailing, this late nineteenth century residential enclave is a distinctive reminder of the early history of Manhattan Valley and the Upper West Side. Following the First World War, Manhattan Valley began to change. Many houses that had once been owned or occupied by German or Irish American families were divided into rooming houses, suggesting that the neighborhood was perceived as less suitable for middle-class families. Three of the 12 houses built by the architect Joseph M. Dunn were sold in the late 1920s and demolished to build a 15-story tan brick apartment building. A great number of Hispanic immigrants began to settle in the area in the late 1940s. According to the United States Census, in 1970 the population of Manhattan Valley was 27,000 "half of whom are of Spanish-speaking origin and over a third of whom are black. The typical family in the area had a 1970 income equal to approximately three-fourths of the median income for Manhattan." After the Second World War, a large number of high-rise apartment houses were built on the Upper West Side. The Frederick Douglass Houses, south of West 106th Street, between Manhattan Avenue and Amsterdam Avenue, were built in phases between 1957 and 1970. Criticism of these and housing developments citywide gradually led to a closer examination of the neighborhood's history and physical character. Rather than pursue urban renewal through the continued demolition of older structures, community members began to call for new a strategy, embracing rehabilitation and preservation. The Manhattan Valley Development Corporation (MVDC) was established in 1968. In recent decades, some significant and, according to New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, "regrettable" alterations have been made to the facades of individual buildings, but overall, the blocks in the historic district have maintained their scale and cohesive character. Such aesthetic characteristics reflect not only the goals of the three developers and architects who designed them, but also the broader popular taste of the late 1880s. Here are some properties listed by various brokers in the Manhattan Avenue Historical District:
Greenwich Village
Elsewhere in Manhattan
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from
the report. "The high level of sales activity, combined with
declining inventory levels, listing discounts and marketing times
has not resulted in significant price appreciation year to date.
This suggests a market psyche containing reasonable expectations
of both buyers and sellers. This is a significant departure from
the contentious conditions between market participants seen in
the past several years, evidenced by patterns of sharply rising
prices and declining sales. Buyers were being priced out the market
and sellers had been conditioned to a rapidly appreciating market
over the prior five years. In addition, Wall Street mortgage and
credit market problems that appeared in mid-July and August have
yet to show an impact in market data for the current quarter.
Existing mortgage underwriting guidelines have become more strictly
enforced with fewer exceptions allowed. A lower number of mortgage
options and higher qualifying requirements for buyers are expected
to temper the flow of sales activity."
this
low since the week ending May 17, when it averaged 6.21 percent.
The 15-year FRM this week was 5.91 percent, down from 5.99 percent
the previous week and 6.02 percent a year ago. It has not been
this low since the week ending May 10, when it averaged 5.87 percent.
Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs)
were 5.98 percent this week, down from last week's 6.03 percent
and last year's 6.05 percent. The five-year ARM has not been this
low since the week ending May 17, when it averaged 5.92 percent.
One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs were 5.57 percent this week in
comparison with 5.66 percent the week before and 5.53 percent
at this time last year. The one-year ARM has not been this low
since the week ending May 31, 2007, when it averaged 5.57 percent.
Said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist:
"Continued market concerns about weaker economic growth and
further declines in the housing market have kept mortgage rates
low over the last few weeks."
data
aggregator RealtyTrac, says Inman News. Nevada, California and
Florida posted the highest rates of foreclosure in the nation,
followed by Michigan, Ohio, Colorado, Arizona, Georgia, Indiana
and Texas. All but five states in the nation saw year-over-year
increases in foreclosure rates, RealtyTrac reported, and August
and September saw the highest number of total foreclosure filings
since the company began issuing reports in January 2005. "Given
the number of loans due to reset through the middle of 2008, and
the continuing weakness in home sales, we would expect foreclosure
activity to remain high and even increase over the next year in
many markets," James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer
of RealtyTrac, said in a statement. The 635,159 foreclosure filings
- including default notices, notices of auction sales or bank
repossessions - represented a 30 percent increase from the previous
quarter and 99.5 percent from a year ago. The number of filings
is greater than the number of properties with filings against
them because some properties are subject to more than one filing
as they move through the foreclosure process. 
Federal
Reserve first cut short-term interest rates on Sept. 18, and the
supply-demand equation will be better balanced as builders begin
to whittle down excess inventories. "Home sales should bottom
out by the end of the first quarter of 2008, and I have starts
up in the third quarter of next year, assuming the inventory overhang
stabilizes," he declared. "By the end of 2009, we may
be at a pace of 1.5 million units of new housing production (including
manufactured homes). Once we are out of the woods, we should see
good growth in front of us - maybe 2 million per year." Maury
Harris, managing director and chief economist at UBS Investment
Bank, said that he sees "housing bottoming out in the first
half of 2008 and starting to pick up in the second half of the
year." The last time a housing recession was this serious
was in the mid-1960s, Harris said, but the big difference between
then and now is that "the Fed is not dealing with inflation."
Taking what he characterized as a "less negative" spin
on the housing market, Michael Moran, chief economist of Daiwa
Securities America, said that most of the reporting in the media
is "exaggerated" and "sensationalized." Specifically,
he cited the subprime mortgage arena, which makes up 13.5 percent
of the market, as opposed to prime lending, which constitutes
a 75 percent market share. "We are seeing a gradual correction
in home prices," he added. "So far, in my view, housing
prices are holding up reasonably well."
