YOU'LL WANT TO BE PREPARED IF THERE'S A STRIKE When the contract with 30,000 union employees of 3,200 buildings in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and Manhattan is due to expire, you can count on the situation unfolding as it has periodically over the years. There always is a drumbeat of dire consequences issued by Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union. Then comes a strike authorization vote. Meantime, property managers and boards of directors gear up for the worst, which happens sometimes and sometimes not. The current contract, which covers doormen, concierges, porters, property managers and superintendents, expires April 21 at midnight. Among sources of useful information are the Real Estate Advisory Board, BrickUnderground.com and Habitat magazine. In the event of a strike, the city's public advocate will be a useful resource. THE LONG ARM OF THE LAW ENCIRCLES TWO BROKERS Two real estate brokers, three attorneys and five others were indicted and charged in an alleged $10 million mortgage fraud scheme that used straw buyers, falsely inflated appraisals and other fake documents to obtain loans from four lenders, says the Real Deal. The group allegedly carried out the scheme at the height of the subprime mortgage boom – between January 2005 and May 2007 – by recruiting straw buyers to purchase properties in Brooklyn and Queens at inflated prices in order to obtain loans that exceeded the properties' true value. The state-licensed brokers – John Star, 39, and Hervin Henry, 65 – face up to 30 years in prison if convicted of conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud. MAGAZINE RANKS NEW YORK CITY'S NEIGHBORHOODS Acknowledging the likelihood of controversy, New York magazine said in a ranking of the 50 "best" neighborhoods the domination by brownstone Brooklyn was largely because of its emphasis on the price of housing. "Pay slightly less attention to price, and Manhattan starts to dominate; if price matters more, a number of Queens neighborhoods rise toward the top. The Upper East Side and Upper West Side came in at 35th and 36th, respectively. Nightlife helped the East Village and, especially, the Lower East Side score well, the magazine said. Park Slope topped the list. To read the whole package of articles and see the magazine's reasoning, visit its site. THE TOWNHOUSE MARKET MAY BE REVIVING The pricey Manhattan townhouses that have been languishing on the market during the downturn are reportedly beginning to attract more bites, says Crain's in a report by the Real Deal. Brokers and owners are anecdotally noticing more interested buyers and first-quarter numbers show that townhouse sales doubled to 41 this year, compared with the same period in 2009, according to Streeteasy.com, the publication says. The number of signed contracts has tripled, to 33. Lately, steep price cuts have been fueling the upturn. FIRST QUARTER SALES JUMP IN BROOKLYN AND QUEENS The number of sales rose 56.9 percent in Brooklyn versus the first quarter of 2009, while Queens had a 72.2 percent increase, according to a new report by the Miller Samuel appraisal firm, says Curbed.com. In Queens, condo sales leaped 160.6 percent, but the median price dropped 12.2 percent to $345,000. Brooklyn's median slipped just 1.8 percent to $466,000. INVENTORY SHRINKS, BUT RENT STAYS LOWER THAN LAST YEAR
REAL ESTATE LICENSE STATISTICS MAY PORTEND MARKET CHANGE Nearly 60 percent more New York real estate professionals held licenses in March 2010 than one year earlier, says the Department of State. The number of new licensees was 22.6 percent in the first quarter of 2010 than the first quarter of 2009. MISSED DEADLINE MEANS CONDO BUYERS GET BACK DEPOSITS Atty. Gen Andrew Cuomo ended a 14-month dispute involving a new condominium at 80 Riverside Boulevard after buyers alleged that the developer failed to begin closing on apartments by a Sept. 1, 2008 deadline, reports the Real Deal. Developer Extell had argued that the missed deadline was owing to a "typo" and that closings at the new 289-unit Rushmore were supposed to commence a year later. Not only did Extell fail to back up the claim, said Cuomo's office, but the alleged error should not negate the buyer's claims. Extell Development President Gary Barnett was quoted earlier this year as saying that more than 110 units were closed and another 100 were under contract, but he told the monthly publication in a telephone interview that he did not have up-to-date figures. He didn't? The attorney general ordered Extell to release 41 buyers from their contracts. "We're not happy about this but we never expected many of these people to close at this point," Barnett declared. SOLARIA IN THE BRONX IS STILL HURTING Five months after the well publicized auction of 54 apartments in Riverdale’s luxurious, but troubled, Solaria condominium, the Riverdale Press reports that more than half the building is still empty. Approximately 35 apartments in the sleek glass tower on Henry Hudson Parkway are still on the market, according to the newspaper. Developer Joe Korff is, as a result, trying a questionably effective promotion called “Spring Bid and Buy.” Said Korff: “Depending on the circumstances, we’ll sit and do a fair deal for both parties. I won’t do a stupid deal, and I won’t do a deal that’s not market.” Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz was quoted as saying he may have a better strategy to fill the building than the promotion. “I have a perfect solution to sell more apartments,” he opined. “Lower the prices.” You’ll find details in the Service You Can Trust blog. BUILDERS START AIMING AT WOMEN BUYERS Builders are now strenuously working to win over female buyers, observes the Wall Street Journal, with more industry pros touting themselves as "certified" in women's housing needs. Developers nationwide increasingly highlight security (more), maintenance (less) and organizing hectic lives with amenities such as walk-in pantries and "drop zones" for groceries. Builders are trying to catch women's eyes with carefully chosen aesthetic flourishes – for example, brass cabinet hardware. And sales teams are emphasizing paint-color psychology and spa nights while doing everything they can to reduce the intimidation factor of the purchase process for solo women buyers. Home-marketing consultant Sara Lamia summed up the change in remarks at the International Builders' Show: "If Mama ain't happy, you're dead in the water." Maine builder Mark Patterson is actually considering holding an educational session on menopause to draw more women to his development, complete with a comedian whose Herculean task will be to keep the event light. Yet Seattle-based developer Greg Brown started a business to counter the trend. "Most guys are weenies who don't stand up for anything anymore," he complains, promoting "man caves" as his response. One of his current projects (price tag: $15,000) combines a kegerator, an Xbox 360 game system and 52-inch LCD TV, along with dude-friendly décor including a "chandelier" made out of golf clubs. Now that is unquestionably the pinnacle of refined taste. THERE'S STILL TIME TO COLLECT ENERGY REBATES FOR APPLIANCES A federally sponsored program provides consumers with rebates for purchasing certain energy-efficient refrigerators, clothes washers, freezers and dishwashers and even larger rebates for those who recycle their discarded appliances. You can qualify for a rebate of $75 ($105 with documented recycling) for qualified refrigerators, $75 ($100 with documented recycling) for clothes washers and $50 ($75 with documented recycling) for freezers. Rebates are available for dishwashers when they are purchased as part of a three-appliance package (refrigerator, dishwasher, clothes washer), which may qualify for a $500 rebate ($555 with documented recycling). Detailed info: NY Appliance Swap Out. YOU CAN SAVE UP TO 80 PERCENT AT DESIGN CENTER'S SALE The New York Design Center is opening its doors to the retail public for a sample sale April 22-24. At 200 Lexington Ave. between 32nd and 31st streets, the Center houses nearly 100 showrooms representing more than 300 lines of fine, traditional, contemporary, residential and contract furniture, as well as fabric, floor covering, wall covering and decorative accessory resources. Since the Web site is unhelpful, call 212-679-9500 for more information. RENTS TURN UP FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 15 MONTHS Apartment rents rose during the first quarter, ending five straight quarters of declines, says research firm Reis Inc., according to the Wall Street Journal. And the apartment vacancy rate stayed flat at 8 percent, the highest level since the firm began its tally in 1980. Rents went up in 60 of the top 79 markets that Reis tracks, with Miami, Seattle and New York at the top of the rankings. Rents notched up 1.6 percent in the first quarter in Miami and 0.9 percent in New York during what is usually a seasonally weak period for apartments. "Deterioration seems not to have just been arrested but reversed," said Victor Calanog, director of research. "Several markets have bottomed and may be on track to recovery." Nationally, effective rents - which include concessions such as a month of free rent - gained 0.3 percent during the quarter compared with a 0.7 percent decline in the fourth quarter of last year and a 1.1 percent drop in the first quarter of 2009. NUMBER OF SIGNED CONTRACTS RISES UNEXPECTEDLY HIGH Pending home sales rose in February in response to the home buyer tax credit, reports the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Based on contracts signed, the surprising monthly increase was 8.2 percent and, over a year, 17.3 percent. Commented Chief Economist Lawrence Yun: "The rise in buyer contact activity may signal the early stages of a second surge of home sales this spring. The healthy gain hints home prices are continuing to flatten," he said. But he acknowledged the need for a "second surge to meaningfully draw down inventory and definitively stabilize home values." According to the Wall Street Journal, analyst Mike Larson of Weiss Research wrote in a client note, "Cheap homes and cheap financing are gradually bringing out buyers." The newspaper quoted Credit Suisse analyst Dan Oppenheim as saying, "Activity likely picked up further in March, and we expect buyers to act with even more urgency in April, although this brief surge will likely be followed by a lull in activity similar to the drop-off in late fall/winter." But Michael Carliner, a visiting fellow at Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies, expressed doubt about a further slump while predicting a "slow and painful" recovery. Said he: "The risk that the bottom is going to come even further out of the market is easing." FEDS CHRONICLE IMPROVEMENT IN MOST OF ITS DISTRICTS "Residential real estate activity increased, albeit from low levels, in most Districts, with the exceptions of St. Louis, where it was mixed, and San Francisco, where it was flat," reads the Federal Reserve's latest Beige Book. Contacts in Philadelphia, Cleveland and Kansas City expressed concern about whether sales would continue to grow after the expiration of the first-time home buyer tax credit, the authors note. "New York, Kansas City, Dallas and San Francisco noted sluggish sales for high-end homes," the Beige Book continues. "Home prices were stable across most Districts, but decreased in parts of the New York and Atlanta Districts. Residential construction activity increased slightly in New York, Atlanta, St. Louis, Minneapolis and Dallas, but remained weak in Cleveland, Chicago and San Francisco." HOUSING STARTS REGISTER INCREASE IN MARCH Privately-owned housing starts in March were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 626,000, a number that is1.6 percent higher than February and 20.2 percent above a year earlier, says the Census Bureau. Single-family housing starts alone were 0.9 percent below February but 49 percent above the record lows in January and February 2009. FEDS EXPRESS CONCERN ABOUT HOUSING'S RECOVERY Participants in the March 16 meeting of the Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) were worried that activity in the housing sector appeared to be leveling off in most regions despite various forms of government support, according to minutes of the meeting. They noted that commercial and industrial real estate markets continued to weaken. "Indeed, housing sales and starts had flattened out at depressed levels, suggesting that previous improvements in those indicators may have largely reflected transitory effects from the first-time homebuyer tax credit rather than a fundamental strengthening of housing activity," the minutes read. Participants indicated that the pace of foreclosures was likely to remain "quite high" and could move higher over coming quarters. "Moreover," the minutes continued, "the prospect of further additions to the already very large inventory of vacant homes posed downside risks to home prices." LIST OF BEST PLACES FOR SECOND HOMES LEFT THESE OUT It seems that treehouses are proving an ideal outpost for adults looking for a novel home addition, says the Wall Street Journal. "A lot of people set out to build a treehouse with their children in mind, then end up using it themselves," says New York-based treehouse designer Roderick Romero, who has designed the elevated structures for the likes of supposed grownups including Sting and Val Kilmer. "People seem to have this great longing to return to nature." And that wouldn't be a walk in the park? "The type of trees and their location always influences the design," says Pete Nelson, author of five books on treehouses and co-founder of a Seattle firm that has built more than 100 of the things. His customers typically pay anywhere from $40,000 to $80,000 for a 200-sf, fully-finished treehouse with electricity. The company has built its share of six-figure luxury hideaways complete with full bathrooms and gourmet kitchens. Such must be the owners' version of getting a life. ANOTHER DIVIDEND IS COLLECTED FOR THE WAGES OF SIN A Los Angeles-area real estate broker faces a potentially lengthy prison sentence after pleading guilty to filing 10 false tax returns seeking nearly $68,000 in fraudulent first-time homebuyer tax credits and earned income tax credits, reports Inman News. Kashawn Monique Savery, who has been doing business as Cornerstone Realty Group in Encino as a licensed broker since 2006, admitted at a hearing to have been involved in filing more than 200 false tax returns seeking more than $1.3 million in fraudulent claims, prosecutors said. Most of the 231 suspicious tax returns for the 2008 tax year discovered during the execution of a search warrant earlier this year were filed from a computer at Savery's condominium in Reseda, Calif., prosecutors said. Other suspicious tax returns linked to the same computer were allegedly filed in recent months for the 2009 tax year. Savery faces a maximum sentence of 50 years in federal prison and a $2.5 million fine when she is sentenced Oct. 18 by U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer. COLUMNIST AND FORMER SPEECHWRITER PICKS UPPER EAST SIDE Peggy Noonan just bought an apartment on the Upper East Side for $1.72 million, says the New York Times. The three-bedroom, three-bath condo at 134 East 93rd St. has some 1,400 square feet of space. HE'S FOUND A HOUSE THAT DOESN'T, IN HIS WORDS, "SUCK" Moby, as DJ and singer-songwriter Richard Melville Hall is known, has purchased for $3.925 million ANCHOR IS GOING AWAY, SO LISTS ONE OF TWO NYC APARTMENTS CNN’s chief business correspondent, Ali Velshi, who also has become the anchor of a news show that runs every weekday as part of “CNN Newsroom,” is moving to Atlanta because of his additional duties. “I bought it the first day I saw it and have loved it ever since,” Velshi told the New York Times regarding his one-bedroom apartment at 186 W. 80th St., which he has put on the market. “But I’m a financial journalist. I can’t just hang on to a place for the sake of it - there’s money in it.” He bought the 800-sf unit in 2003. With a home office and 200-sf deck, the Upper West Side apartment originally went on the market at the end of last year for $875,000 and was just relisted for $840,000. But he and his wife Lori Wachs are holding onto a condo that they rent out at the Harrison, at 205 West 76th St. OBAMA HOME DOESN'T SEEM TO ELEVATE PRICE OF ONE NEXT DOOR A house at 5040 S. Greenwood Ave., which came on the market in September next to the Obamas' place in Hyde Park, has sold for $1.4 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. The buyer was said to be an unnamed "ordinary" Chicago buyer who is to undertake a multi-million-dollar renovation of the house. Built around 1900, the 6,000-sf, three-story dwelling has stained glass windows, a porch and a finished lower level. There's also a coach house on the property, which measures nearly 0.3 acres. It was built by the original owner of the Obamas' home. The property was first listed without an asking price because of its unusual location, separated from the Obamas' red-brick home by a fence. A recent asking price was $1.85 million, although the property's assessed value in 2009 was $1.19 million. The Obamas moved into the place in 2005, when it was listed at $1.95 million. They paid $1.65 million, taking out a $1.3 million mortgage. HIS SALE IS NO LAUGHING MATTER Kevin Nealon has sold a cottage in Manhattan Beach, Calif. for $2,725,000, reports the Los Angeles Times. Built in 1936, the two-story house features bay windows and a fireplace in the living room, a balcony off the master bedroom and an upgraded kitchen with a wine refrigerator and Viking and Wolf stainless-steel appliances. The house has three bedrooms and two bathrooms; there also is a one-bedroom, one-bath guesthouse, which has a kitchen and laundry facility. Together, the homes have a total of 2,141 square feet of living space. The ocean view property, which Nealon purchased in 1999 for $1.1 million, came on the market in May at $2,995,000. . SOMEONE HAD TO GIVE, AND IT WAS SHE Diane Keaton has relisted her Beverly Hills, Calif., home for $10.95 million, 16 percent below its price tag last year, says the Wall Street Journal. The seven-bedroom, nine-bath Spanish Colonial Revival house was on the market last year for just under $13 million but was taken off after several months. The star of "Annie Hall" and "Something's Gotta Give" worked with designers on restoring the home, which has been featured in Achitectural Digest. The 1920s-built residence was designed by California architect Ralph Flewelling, who also was the architect of the Beverly Hills fountain at the corner of Wilshire and Santa Monica boulevards. The house has an interior courtyard surrounded by archways, interior rooms with vaulted, dark wood ceilings, and a yard and pool lined with olive trees.. A STOCK BROKER NAMED CHUCK SELLS HIS PENTHOUSE Charles Schwab and his wife Helen have sold for $12.5 million their 15th floor petite penthouse at 834 Fifth Avenue to Miriam (Mimi) Haas, Levi-Strauss executive Peter Haas' widow and current chairwoman of the company. The Schwabs already own both the penthouse upstairs and an apartment with a significantly larger layout on the ninth floor. They famously paid $27.7 million for the ninth-floor apartment, which was listed for $16.5 million. With an asking price of $14 million, the 15th-floor unit remained on the market but a New York minute before being taken "permanently off the market," according to a brokers' database. Apparently not. SHE'S TURNING DOWN THE HEAT IN HER LIFE The two-bedroom co-op that B. Smith owns with her husband and business partner, Dan Gasby, is on the market for $5.95 million. The apartment of more than 2,100 square feet is on the 35th floor of the curved postwar building at 200 Central Park South. Gasby and wife Barbara will retain a one-bedroom apartment in the building as an office. "We're always going to be New Yorkers," Gasby said, "but we're at a point in our lives where we enjoy playing golf and traveling. There's such opportunity down there, and now is the time to take advantage of it." NOVELEST SEEKS TO BECOME A WOMAN OF EVEN MORE SUBSTANCE Romance novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford, whose latest book is "Breaking the Rules," and her producer husband Robert Bradford have listed their 15-room apartment in the River House, according to Realestalker.com. The asking price is $18.995, while the most expensive apartment in the 79-year history of the Art Deco building on Sutton Place sold for just $12.25 million. The 5,310-sf unit features four bedrooms, four and a half baths, beautiful bay windows overlooking the East River, two wood-burning fireplaces, polished wood floors and gorgeous moldings, though probably not in the three maid's rooms. CHEAP RENT AND OTHER IMPOSSIBLE PURSUITS FOR AN ACTRESS Natalie Portman is staying at a Union Square rental building with her dog, Whiz, the New York Post gushes, saying the actress is getting stares from fellow residents/fans as well as protection from doormen at the Fourth Avenue building. Quoting Portman's spokesperson as saying that she is renting an apartment for her cousin, the newspaper confides, "But our spies have seen the actress alone." Also, her father has been spotted visiting her. "We hear," the Post goes on, "Portman has settled into one of the larger units, in a building where two-bedrooms start at about $5,000." She also has a home in Los Angeles and is currently filming "Thor" in New Mexico. Whiz? Stream of, uh, consciousness? CAN YOU FIND HIM NOW Paul - the horn-rimmed pitchman for Verizon Wireless who asks, “Can you hear me now?”- has just sold a two-bedroom apartment in Greenwich Village for $1.255 million, says the New York Times. The apartment is on the second floor of 41 Fifth Avenue, designed in the 1920s by Rosario Candela, the architect of 740 Park Ave. and other elegant buildings. The apartment, which he bought in 2006 for $1.19, has two bedrooms, one bath and three exposures. Marcarelli first listed it for sale in July of last year for $1.425 million. RATES PLUMMET AFTER TESTING RECENT PEAK Freddie Mac says the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 5.07 percent this week, down from last week's 5.21 percent while above 4.82 percent last year at this time. The 15-year FRM was 4.40 percent in comparison with 4.52 percent the previous week and 4.48 percent a year ago. The five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 4.08 percent this week, down 4.25 percent from a week ago and last year's 4.88 percent. The one-year Treasury-indexed ARM eased to 4.13 percent from 4.14 percent; it was 4.91 percent one year earlier. NOW EVEN SOME RICH FOLKS FACE FORECLOSURE
DISTRESSED SALES AGAIN HEAD TOWARD A THIRD OF ALL SALES First American CoreLogic reports that distressed home sales – such as short sales and real estate owned (REO) sales (the latter, properties owned by banks) – accounted for 29 percent of all sales in the U.S. in January. That was the highest level since April 2009. The peak occurred in January 2009, when distressed sales accounted for 32 percent of all sales transactions. After the peak in early 2009, the distressed sale share fell to 23 percent in July before rising again in late 2009 and continuing into 2010. MORTGAGE COMPANIES ARE BULKING UP Mortgage companies added 4,400 full-time employees to their payrolls in February, reversing 3,900 layoffs seen the previous month, according to the most recent jobs report. As National Mortgage News noted, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that employment in the mortgage banker/broker sector unexpectedly rose to 254,000 in February from 249,600 in January. It is the first sign of hiring since July, when the mortgage industry had a 267,300 workforce. The unexpected increase comes as industry executives are bracing for a sizable decline in loan production in 2010. However, servicing shops are straining to keep up with demands for loan modifications, and many companies have relied on temporary workers and contractors to deal with the workload. LOAN APPLICATIONS FALL AFTER FHA HIKE IN INSURANCE Mortgage loan application volume for the week ending April 9 decreased 9.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier, reports the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). On an unadjusted basis, the change was 9.5 percent, reaching the third-lowest point since the end of June 2009. "Applications for government mortgages dropped substantially last week, following the implementation of an increase in FHA mortgage insurance premiums," said MBA economist Mike Fratantoni. "Applications for conventional mortgages also dropped last week, with refinance application volume continuing to drop following last week's jump in rates." Refinancing activity fell 9.0 percent from the previous week, marking the index's fifth consecutive decline. Seasonally adjusted, purchase volume dropped 10.5 percent from one week earlier; unadjusted, it was 10.0 percent lower than the prior week and off 17.5 percent from one year ago. The MBA attributed the overall decrease in purchase applications to the 19.1 percent reduction in government purchase applications versus 2.0 percent in conventional purchase applications. MONTHLY AND QUARTERLY FORECLOSURES AT RECORD HIGHS RealtyTrac says default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions were up 7 percent from the previous quarter and 16 percent from the first quarter of 2009. One in every 138 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing during the quarter. The amounts were the highest for both the month and quarter since the company started tracking foreclosures in 2005. Foreclosure filings were reported on 367,056 properties in March, an increase of nearly 19 percent from the previous month, an increase of nearly 8 percent from March 2009. In New York City, nearly 5,000 properties received foreclosure filings in the first quarter, up 1.51 percent from the prior quarter and 16.21 percent from one year earlier, the Real Deal noted. Staten Island had the most filings, 631. "Foreclosure activity in the first quarter of 2010 followed a very similar pattern to what we saw in the first quarter of 2009: a shallow trough in January and February followed by a substantial spike in March," said RealtyTrac CEO James J. Saccacio. "One difference, however, is that the increases were more tilted toward the final stage of foreclosure." TWO-THIRDS OF SURVEY RESPONDENTS WANT TO OWN EVEN NOW Sixty-five percent of Americans still prefer owning a home, according to a new survey by Fannie Mae during December 2009 and January 2010. Nearly a quarter of renters polled said they will buy a home later than once planned. In addition, homeowners with traditional, fixed-rate mortgages payments indicated significantly more satisfaction than those with other types. As for reasons to own a home, respondents cited safety (43 percent) and quality of local schools (33 percent) as driving factors ahead of financial considerations. A majority of consumers (60 percent) reported that buying a home today was harder than it was for their parents, and 68 percent predicted that it will be even more difficult for their children. FORBES LISTS ITS 10 WORST HOUSING MARKETS FOR SELLERS To find America's worst-selling cities, Forbes started with all the Metropolitan Statistical Areas with populations over 1 million and then narrowed the list to those with the biggest two-year sales price drops for single-family homes. Leaving out the predictably high placed Detroit, the magazine also factored in the change in the number of single-family home sales between 2008 and 2009. In cities such as New York and San Francisco, the condominium markets have a far proportion of the market with respect to single-family homes than they do in other areas, Forbes pointed as an explanation of their inclusion in the top – er, bottom - 10. In order, the losers were. . . Milwaukee, Denver, Los Angeles, St. Louis, San Francisco, New York, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Atlanta and San Diego. LONG COMMUTE OFFSETS SAVING ON CHEAPER HOUSING A report that echoed earlier ones by the Urban Land Institute maintains that transportation costs often reduce, and sometimes even eliminate, the savings made possible by lower housing prices in areas that lie outside places where housing is relatively expensive. The study on the Boston region as far as Providence, Worcester and Dover, N.H. had findings similar to research on the San Francisco Bay Area and Washington, D.C. region. "Our analysis finds that the typical household in the study area spends upwards of $22,000 annually on housing, which represents roughly 35 percent of the median household income ($68,036)," the report on Boston by the research and education organization said. "With transportation costs for the typical household reaching nearly $12,000 annually, the combined costs of housing and transportation account for roughly 54 percent of the typical household's income." The two regions studied earlier assessed transportation cost burdens of 59 percent (San Francisco) and 47 percent (D.C.) for housing. "Long and frequent trips in an automobile - whether back and forth to work or school, for everyday errands, or for entertainment - can stress a working family's budget, can cause countless hours to be wasted behind the wheel, and can take a serious environmental toll on the region," the authors wrote. NUMBER OF POTENTIAL BUYERS TRIPLES FOR INVESTMENT HOMES
BUILDER CONFIDENCE RISES FOUR POINTS BUT REMAINS LOW Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes improved significantly in April as consumers rushed to take advantage of home buyer tax credit, according to the latest National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). The HMI climbed to 19 in April (on a scale of 100), its highest level since September of 2009. Chief Economist David Crowe of the builders organization said the membership has "a more neutral view" of the next six months. Repeating his monthly refrain, Crowe said that builders are "very aware of the many factors that continue to drag on housing at this time - including the critical shortage of credit for new and existing projects, problems with inaccurate appraisals and the ongoing flow of foreclosed properties on the market." RATINGS ARE LOWERED FOR THREE HOME BUILDERS Credit Suisse has lowered its ratings on KB Home and NVR to neutral from outperform, and cut PulteGroup, the nation's largest builder, to underperform from neutral. "We think that much of the 'spring trade' has played out and we expect a slowing in housing demand after the April 30 expiration of the home buyer tax credit," analyst Daniel Oppenheim wrote in a note to clients. SOME AREAS MAY NOT REACH PEAK GROWTH FOR 15 YEARS Residential real estate markets that experienced the greatest inflation in house prices, including certain metro areas in California, Florida, Arizona and Nevada, will not see a return of peak level growth before 2025, predicts technology provider Fiserv, according to Propertywire.com. Prices are expected to fall further this year and the recovery is predicted to be long, the concern said, adding that some areas could see property prices recovering before 2010. "Nationally, the data points to a further 7 percent decline in home prices through the end of this year, with a prolonged recovery beginning early in 2011," commented Fiserv Chief Economist David Stiff. "In many markets, the emphasis is on the word prolonged." Steep job losses in the manufacturing sector could keep housing demand low for some time in the industrial Midwest, including Michigan, Indiana and Ohio, he said. At the same time, Pittsburgh, Columbia, and several metropolitan areas in Texas, Washington and upstate New York could see peak level prices return within the next few years. He mentioned urban neighborhoods such Minneapolis, Memphis and Chicago where predatory lending was rampant as experiencing a rapid increase in home prices. "Our analysis projects that some markets are poised for a relatively fast recovery, including some areas that never experienced large declines in prices," Stiff said. SURVEY OF ECONOMISTS SUGGESTS SLOW RECOVERY Before the stock market took off this week, 44 economists surveyed by the Associated Press projected that home values will see no gains this year and a 2.3 percent rise next year, reports Inman News. They also predicted that home values may not start to rise normally (about 4 percent per year since World War II) until the middle of the decade. Although the group said re-sales could rise to 5.4 million this year and 5.9 million next year, the economists related their anticipation that a new wave of foreclosures will dampen prices until then. FORECAST SAYS SEES LESS OF A DECLINE IN HOME PRICES New efforts to modify mortgages by reducing loan balances could limit home-price declines but could prolong by six months, until the second quarter of 2011, the time for the housing market to find a bottom, according to a new report in the Wall Street Journal. Analysts at Moody's Investors Service have revised upward their home price outlook on account of the changes and now predict a 5 percent decline from the fourth quarter of 2009 instead of 7 percent, as measured by the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index, which omits apartments. Still, a housing economist at the Center for Economic Policy and Research, Dean Baker, warned that home prices could fall another 10-20 percent. "It's virtually certain in many, if not most, markets that housing prices will fall further." Added Arnold Kling, a former Freddie Mac economist and member of the George Mason University's Mercatus Center working group on financial markets: "If we modify loans and we have not yet reached a bottom, what we are doing is setting up borrowers and lenders to fail once again." The most expensive co-op studio in New York First, you trudge up three full flights of stairs in one of two conjoined townhouses in the mid 60s off Fifth Avenue. (Your neighbors in the other cooperatively linked townhouse are spared the hike since they alone have access to an elevator.) Then you arrive, breathless, at an apartment that might measure 450 square feet, each of them exquisitely renovated. The apartment is so small that the bed has to be suspended close to the ceiling and lowered at night, coming to rest on two dressers and reached even then via a short, stylish ladder. If you want to live there, the asking price is $1.1 million with maintenance of $1,665 per month. That works out to $2,444.44 a square foot. (There do exist listings for loft spaces, condops or units with hotel services that are dearer, far more spacious and less likely to be true studio apartments.) To be fair, there's also an inviting terrace, which is on the south side of the apartment and overlooking both the gardens in the block's interior as well as Ivana Trump's broad terrace. The terrace partly explains the price. So does the nearly flawless one-room co-op's inclusion in a book called "Living Large in Small Places." There's isn't an inch of the place that has not been stunningly designed – for example, the blue-hued, translucent, cracked glass tiling that surrounds the gas fireplace; state-of-the-art audio/video system; Venetian plaster finishes; bay window facing those gardens; beautifully crafted open kitchen; and even that bed, which actually slips into a secret ceiling compartment. The furniture has been so carefully chosen to fit into the space harmoniously that it would be shame to purchase the studio without it. The sole item worthy of change would be the microwave oven that is tucked into a surprisingly large walk-in closet. It would be good somehow to find a place for it to sit unobtrusively in the kitchen, which is as cunningly engineered as a seagoing galley on a lavish yacht. For someone who cooks and likes to give dinner parties, the long climb that discourages heavy shopping, never mind older guests, would be a deal breaker. For anyone else, the price is the price, though the premium for the apartment's inclusion in a book may prove to be excessive. Although other units in the two buildings are not available to be seen, it is a safe bet that this studio is the best of the lot for its size – if only because of the elevated terrace. But its quality illustrates a precept in real estate usually applied to a street or neighborhood: Regression. In real estate (and in almost every other context), regression is considered a bad thing. Loosely, defined, it refers to the best house on the block. What it means is that the house will be dragged down in market value, whatever the investment its owners have made in the property, by the lesser houses around it. Conversely, progression suggests that the worst house on the block will have its value nudged upward by the better ones surrounding it. Perhaps the most expensive co-op studio in Manhattan will prove to be an exception to the rule. After all, its neighborhood is pretty pricey to begin with, and many buyers will pay a premium to be associated with it, especially those young lions of Wall Street. What doesn't seem clear, however, is how many potential buyers have the wherewithal to spend on such a small apartment that will require them to lug their groceries and Louis Vuitton bags up three long flights of stairs. Other properties listed by various brokers and seen recently:
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Manhattan rental transactions are up and inventory is shrinking, though rents are still lower than last year, according to first-quarter market reports, says the Real Deal. A report prepared by Miller Samuel found 2,663 rental transactions throughout the market in the first quarter of 2010, up 16.3 percent from the same period last year. Yet Citi Habitats said it completed more than 2,650 rental transactions in the first quarter, up from approximately 2,300 one year earlier. At the same time, listing inventory for rentals fell 30.8 percent, according to Miller Samuel, which said that rent averaged $3,812, down 8 percent from $4,142 in the same quarter of 2009 but close to $3,789 in the fourth quarter. Citi Habitats' report found that the average rent for a studio was $1,750, falling 1.2 percent from a year ago. One-bedrooms were $2,331, down 4.2 percent; two-bedrooms were 7 percent lower at $3,277; and three-bedrooms were off 5 percent, to $4,345. 
Wolf's Lair, says the Los Angeles Times. The sellers of the Hollywood Hills castle-like fortress with views of downtown, Griffith Park, the Hollywood sign and the ocean are Lionsgate Entertainment's Jay Faires and Debbie Matenopoulos, former co-host of "The View." Wolf's Lair was built in 1927 by Hollywoodland developer L. Milton Wolf. Moby, who will be moving from the East Coast, plans to restore the property in keeping with its period charm. Details include coffered ceilings, stenciled beams, linenfold paneling, turrets, gable windows and a variety of other pretentious features that you can imagine. The eight-bedroom, five-and-a-half-bath main house, guesthouse and pool house apartment have a total of about 6,500 square feet of living space. The structures sit on 3.3 acres, walled and gated, above Lake Hollywood. The black-bottom swimming pool is shaped like a heart, and the pool terrace has a pergola-covered seating area. The property had been on and off the market since May 2008, when it was priced at $7.5 million. It had been most recently listed at $4,295,000. Play it again and again, Moby!
Houses with loans of $5 million or more will likely see a sharp rise in foreclosures this year, according to a RealtyTrac study for the Wall Street Journal. This month, a Tudor mansion in Bel-Air belonging to film star Nicolas Cage was in a foreclosure auction and reverted to the lender. In addition, Richard Fuscone, a former top Wall Street executive, declared personal bankruptcy, forestalling a foreclosure auction that had been threatened for his 14-acre Westchester mansion. And in March, a Manhattan condominium owned by Italian film producer Vittorio Cecchi Gori was sold in a foreclosure auction for $33.2 million. In February alone, 352 homes nationwide in this category were scheduled for foreclosure auction, the final step before a bank acquisition. That is the largest monthly number of these so-called notices of sale since the financial crisis began. By comparison, there were 1,312 such notices in all of 2009.
According to a new Move.com survey, 17.2 percent of potential home buyers say they plan to purchase a home in the near future as an investment as opposed to 5.6 percent in March 2009. Nearly half of the potential investors (46.5 percent) say they plan to own the property for six or more years, 16 percent expect to hold the property two-five years and 10.6 percent, 6-24 months. The survey also found that 49 percent of all homeowners would buy another home today if they could sell their current home for what they paid for it or more, especially homeowners ages 25-34 (68.2 percent). One in five consumers say they plan to purchase a home in the next one-five years, with 7.9 percent planning to purchase in the next two years. The survey of 1,004 adults was conducted by OmniTel, a weekly national telephone omnibus service of GfK Custom Research North America, for Move, an online real estate listings service.
