With the Winter Olympics on the horizon, perhaps you’re toying with the idea of entering the competition. Do it on your own terms by scooping up this home with a private luge track in Ridgefield, CT, listed for $3.5 million with Leslie Krichko of William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty. The five-bedroom, eight-bathroom manse, which measures 11,000 square feet, is owned by Brett and Pamela West. The other occupant—when he’s not at college, or training at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, NY—is 22-year-old Tucker West, a member of the U.S. luge team at the 2014 Winter Olympics. Tucker, who’s been named to the 2018 Winter Olympic Games team, was the youngest slider to ever represent the U.S., in Sochi in 2014. The West family built the 483-foot-long luge track in 2003—a year after Tucker watched the 2002 Winter Olympics and expressed interest in competing in luge. According to a sign on the home, it is the “only known permanent ‘backyard luge track’ in the world.” There are only three other luge tracks in the entire country for aspiring sliders to train on. Ruben Gonzalez, who recently competed with Tucker in Calgary and is a four-time Olympian in the luge event (competing with the U.S. team), is impressed by the private luge. The track “would be a great place to practice your start and your form,” he says. “There’s not a luge store. You can’t go to a sporting goods store like you would for a basketball.” For a guy like Tucker, it makes perfect sense to have a luge track at his disposal. “Tucker’s at a different level. He’s got a shot at a medal,” says Gonzalez, also an author and speaker on real estate. The Colonial-style home features a grand circular staircase. The chef’s kitchen is equipped with a huge island, eight-burner range, and plenty of counter space. Built in 1996, the home has distinctive features that lend a historical charm, including moldings and coffered, vaulted, and domed ceilings. But in a nod to today’s times, the garage features a shiny floor and three bays, each with its own overhead door. Other luxe features include smart home technology, three pull-down movie screens, and a built-in bar system with a total of five taps between the main house and the pool house. The home’s 3.27-acre lot also features a tennis court, croquet court, and pool with waterfall, slide, and cave. Now a buyer simply needs to slide on in to make a medalworthy purchase. The post $3.5M Connecticut Home Comes With an Olympic-Size Luge Track appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/unique-homes/luge-track-connecticut/
0 Comments
President Donald Trump isn’t the only one in the family with an eye for real estate. His older sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, is now dipping a substantial toe in the water by listing her waterfront estate in Palm Beach, FL, for $23.9 million. Palm Beach is key to the Trump property legacy. The president will likely devote many winter weekends to his vacation home, the exclusive Mar-a-Lago located in the tony town. Barry’s property is just steps from Trump’s private country club. Her brother would be unable to find fault with the location—it’s right on the water and next door to his favorite destination. It is “rare, direct oceanfront … with commanding, in-the-sand ocean views,” according to the listing. The estate comes with 194 feet of ocean frontage. The 8,269-square-foot home has eight bedrooms, eight bathrooms, and three half-baths. Built in 1956, the home could use a cosmetic update. It features an open entertaining space with a formal living room, sunroom, family room, and library. The outdoor space is certainly a draw, with an oceanfront balcony, patio, and pool. According to the Real Deal, Barry paid $11.5 million for this place in 2004. If she gets anywhere near her asking price, the profit will be, well, huge. This isn’t the first time Barry has tested the Palm Beach real estate waters. As reported in the Real Deal, in 2005 Barry flipped a property just next door to Mar-a-Lago, but without the oceanfront appeal. She bought the place in 2001 for $1.75 million, tore down the existing building, and built a new home on the grounds, completing work in 2004. The attorney and judge received attention during the 2016 presidential campaign, when then-candidate Trump suggested she would make a “phenomenal” appointee to the Supreme Court. He later said he was joking, adding that appointing his sister would be a “conflict of interest.” Barry is currently an attorney and inactive senior judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. The post Maryanne Trump Barry, Sister of President, Lists Palm Beach Home for $23.9M appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/celebrity-real-estate/maryanne-trump-barry-palm-beach-estate/ The numbers: Pending home sales ticked up 0.2% in November, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. What happened: NAR’s pending-home sales index tracks real estate transactions in which a contract has been signed, but the deal has not yet been closed. November’s increase missed the consensus forecast of a 0.5% monthly gain from economists surveyed by Econoday. The index reading was 109.5, where 100 is equal to the average level of contract activity during 2001. That’s 0.8% higher than a year ago. Big picture: The housing market’s biggest headwind is still the extremely lean levels of inventory available for sale. In November, NAR said there were 3.4 months’ worth of homes for sale, the lowest on record back to 1999. As NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said, “New buyers coming into the market are finding out quickly that their options are limited and competition is robust.” Yun is forecasting full-year 2017 existing-home sales of 5.54 million, only 1.7% higher than in 2016. And he expects the new tax law to crimp demand for housing next year—perhaps enough to dent prices. Pending sales were mixed according to region in November: The index for the Northeast rose 4.1% and the index in the Midwest ticked up 0.4%. In the South, sales dipped 0.4% for the month, while the index covering the West slid 1.8%. The post Home-Contract Signings Inch Up in November as Tight Supply Chokes Off Sales appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/home-contract-signings-inch-november-tight-supply-chokes-off-sales/ The jumbo-mortgage market has been a bright spot for the banking industry in recent years. The tax law could take some of the shine off it. The tax-code overhaul, among its many other consequences, eliminates some of the benefits of homeownership, particularly for high-end homes. And the borrowers who buy those homes are exactly whom banks have been targeting. “The banks really like jumbo mortgages,” said Guy Cecala, publisher of the trade publication Inside Mortgage Finance. “It’s a business they’ve become increasingly reliant on.” Last year, jumbo mortgages hit their highest level since 2006 by dollar volume, according to the publication’s estimates. Predicting the tax law’s exact effect on the jumbo market is difficult, and most banks aren’t talking yet about what they expect. Complicating matters: Wealthy consumers could benefit from other parts of the tax bill. Also, the jumbo market has already slowed down this year, as higher interest rates have crimped refinancing activity. Still, some analysts say the tax bill could further slow the pace of jumbo mortgages, though for now they expect only a modest single-digit percentage drop from the tax bill. Since the financial crisis, banks have been pushing hard toward jumbo mortgages, or loans that are too big to be sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In most parts of the country, a jumbo is any loan above $424,100. Banks generally keep the loans on their own books, as wealthy borrowers who use the products are less likely to default. There are two main ways the tax law could hinder some of that activity. It would slash the size of loans that qualify for the mortgage-interest deduction from $1 million to $750,000. It also would curb the amount of property taxes homeowners can deduct from their tax bill. Mr. Cecala said this cap could make wealthy buyers reconsider buying a second or third home, since the property-tax deduction is one of the major benefits of doing so. In “states like New York, New Jersey, California—that’s a big deal,” said KBW analyst Christopher McGratty. Current mortgages will get to keep the $1 million cap on mortgage-interest deductibility, but that could also slow down sales by persuading some high-end homeowners not to move. The banks’ increasing production of jumbo mortgages has been notable since they have pulled back on other types of mortgages, tightening lending standards and making way for nonbank lenders to take on riskier customers. Wells Fargo & Co., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. are the three biggest jumbo mortgage producers. At banks with $10 billion or more in assets, which includes all midsize and large banks, 19% of all mortgage originations were over the typical jumbo limit in 2016, up from 9% in 2006, according to an analysis using software from ComplianceTech’s LendingPatterns.com. For the biggest banks, the jumbo setback won’t offset the expected savings from a lower corporate tax rate over all. But a few lenders like First Republic Bank that focus heavily on jumbo mortgages may face a more meaningful impact. Over the last three months, as the tax bill came into shape, First Republic shares declined 13.6%, compared with about an 11% pickup in the KBW Nasdaq Bank index. “I don’t think we view it as [a change] that totally stops the business and drives things to a halt,” said the bank’s chief financial officer, Michael Roffler, at a conference in early November. The bank declined to comment last week. High-cost mortgages dominate the housing market in areas like New York City and California. In Manhattan, for example, 84% of purchase mortgages this year were for more than $500,000, according to housing-research firm Attom Data Solutions. In San Francisco, where First Republic is based, that proportion is 87%. The mortgage-interest deduction has long been a staple of American homeownership, and the psychological effect of losing part of it can have just as much an effect as the financial. Already, many borrowers are staying put longer in their current homes, partly because they don’t want to lose the superlow interest rates they pay now that the Federal Reserve is raising short-term rates. “We’re already living in a rate-lock world,” said Ben Graboske, an executive vice president at mortgage data and technology firm Black Knight Inc. “Now you’re going to add this.” Black Knight calculates that the new interest-deductibility cap would cost a homeowner with a mortgage over $750,000 an average of $2,500 to $4,000 a year depending on their tax bracket. That would equal a 6% increase in monthly principal and interest payments for moving to a new home. —Rachel Louise Ensign contributed to this article. The post Tax Law Could Further Slow Down a Bank Favorite: Jumbo Mortgages appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/real-estate-news/tax-law-slow-bank-favorite-jumbo-mortgages/ It looks like “Paradise City” isEncino, CA, where the Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash has purchased a rockin’ new home for $6.25 million, according to Yolanda’s Little Black Book. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer was on the hunt for a new place to settle down after leaving 90210 behind. The 52-year-old, whose actual name is Saul Hudson, and his former wife, Perla Hudson, initially listed their luxe 11,000-square-foot Beverly Hills estate in 2015 for $11 million. In 2016, the price was slashed to $9.5 million. It was finally sold to rapper Big Sean for a reported $8.7 million. The couple, who bought the Beverly Hills home in 2009 for $7.3 million, had turned the modest manse into a “rocker chic” pad, complete with pirate ship chandeliers, an outdoor halfpipe for skating, and a recording studio. Even though the guitar god left a really rockin’ palace behind, his new home is also worth riffing about. The brand-new home has six bedrooms and 10 baths, and blends modern amenities with traditional design. The 9,400 square feet of interior space feature white oak flooring, decorative molding, white brick, high ceilings, and nesting French doors, which seamlessly integrate the indoor and outdoor spaces. The impressive open kitchen has two marble counters, a breakfast nook, butler’s pantry, and dual farmhouse sinks. Other spaces include a formal dining room, family room with fireplace, office, game room, movie theater, gym, and master suite with private balcony. Outdoors, there are sprawling grounds with a pool and spa, covered patios, a fire pit, grill, sport court, guesthouse, and pool cabana with bath. The place must have inspired Slash to finally sing, “Take me home (Oh won’t you please take me home).” The post Guns N’ Roses Guitarist Slash Buys Rockin’ Home in Encino for $6.25M appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/celebrity-real-estate/slash-buys-encino-manse/ From Tired Tudor to Totally Terrific: Before and After Pics of a Brentwood Mansion Makeover12/26/2017 If you’re a sucker for amazing before-and-after home renovation photos, you’ll love the latest multimillion-dollar mansion project in Mandeville Canyon in Los Angeles’ posh Brentwood neighborhood. Of course, a lofty neighborhood demands lofty prices. Your average home flip doesn’t start out with a $5.2 million Tudor mansion and result in a reimagined contemporary farmhouse-style estate on the market for $12.5 million. But that’s how the ANR Development Company rolls. For example, it recently transformed the former home of the late actress Della Reese into a record-setting $19.25 million luxury enclave. As for this fabulous flip, a sizable portion of the home’s original value was in its location. So what sets this neighborhood apart from other swanky surroundings on L.A.’s West Side? According to Agustin Rodriguez, president of ANR, “One of the draws of this peaceful canyon location is its private and secluded ambiance. The privacy this exclusive enclave provides is a top priority for its residents.” The home’s situated on a 30,000-square-foot lot at the end of a cul-de-sac and is surrounded by mature foliage. Another main attraction is the killer canyon and city views right out to Catalina Island. Pouring “millions” into the Brentwood face-lift, ANR enlisted architect Bobby Rees and interior designer Kishani Perera to transform the dark, 6,000-square-foot, 1970s-era English Tudor into a light-filled, ultraluxe home with warm wood accents, clean lines, and neutral colors. ——-- The renovation took the home down to the studs. It now has seven bedrooms, eight bathrooms, a home theater, gym, chef’s kitchen, butler’s pantry, recreation room, two laundry rooms, and a wine cellar. ——-- The developers also added all-new mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems, along with designer touches throughout, including wide-plank French oak wood flooring, wood-beamed ceilings, custom light fixtures, wrought-iron wine cellar doors, and a standing-seam metal roof—which serves to create the sophisticated farmhouse feel. The kitchen didn’t look awful before, but with the addition of dual islands and Miele appliances, including a plumbed coffee system, it’s now state of the art. ——-- The same could be said of the master bath—it was in fine shape before. Most buyers would have been completely satisfied with the way it was, but the person who pays $12.5 million for a home wants a master bathroom to be grand and spacious, with luxuries such as spectacular views. ——-- The second-level master suite was decent but dated. Now, after an expansion and the addition of a cathedral-like wall of windows, it offers greater views, along with substantial style, space, and drama. ——-- Four sets of floor-to-ceiling Fleetwood doors on the ground floor made a major difference in the living/dining room areas. Here’s how the dining room was made to look even more delicious: ——-- Outside those Fleetwood doors in back, the elimination of dark wooden trellises allows for much nicer (and brighter) indoor-outdoor flow. ——-- The pool area also received a makeover, with a new kitchen/barbecue station and spacious decks. ——-- Even the home theater was updated with contemporary equipment and furnishings. We’ve come a long way since the 1970s. ——-- In addition to all these new, fine features we’ve highlighted in the photos above, there’s also an adjacent guesthouse with a separate entrance, and a gated motor court with five-car garage. Guests are welcome! The property is represented by The Agency’s Santiago Arana. The post From Tired Tudor to Totally Terrific: Before and After Pics of a Brentwood Mansion Makeover appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/brentwood-mansion-makeover-before-after/ The numbers: The S&P/Case-Shiller national index rose a seasonally adjusted 0.7% in the three-month period ending in October. It was up 6.2% compared to the same period a year ago. The 20-city index also rose a seasonally adjusted 0.7% for the month and it’s up 6.4% for the year. Both indexes advanced 0.2% in raw or unadjusted terms. What happened: Prices rose in more than half of the largest U.S. markets, led by San Francisco and Las Vegas, reflecting once again the high cost of U.S. housing, especially in tech hotbeds. The Case-Shiller national index is now 6% above its prior year-to-year peak. The 20-city index that skews toward the biggest metro areas is still 1.3% below its all-time high, though. Big cities generally experienced even bigger booms before 2006 and the ensuing housing bust and some have not climbed all the way back. Big picture: The U.S. housing market is in pretty good health. Sales keep rising and builders are busy as millennials enter their home-buying years. Low interest rates and the best jobs market in years have created a tailwind that’s fueling demand. The supply of new and previously owned homes for sale, however, has not kept pace and that’s contributed to a sharp escalation in prices. Without more supply, some buyers could get frozen out. Another potential drag in 2018 could be higher mortgage rates. The Federal Reserve raised a key interest rate in December that helps determine the cost of borrowing. The central bank could boost rates by up to another percentage point in the next 12 months, forecasts show. What are analysts saying?: “Home prices continue their climb supported by low inventories and increasing sales,” says David M. Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “Underlying the rising prices for both new and existing homes are low interest rates, low unemployment and continuing economic growth. Yet Blitzer also offered a cautionary note. “Some of these favorable factors may shift in 2018. The Fed is widely expected to raise the fed funds rate three more times to reach 2% by the end of the new year. Since home prices are rising faster than wages, salaries, and inflation, some areas could see potential home buyers compelled to look at renting,” he said. “Data published by the Urban Institute suggests that in some West coast cities with rapidly rising home prices, renting is more attractive than buying,” he added. Market Reaction: Stocks were mixed, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining early Tuesday in light trading the day after Christmas but other indexes in the red.
The post Home Prices Stay High, Up 6.2% From a Year Earlier, Case-Shiller Shows appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/real-estate-news/home-prices-stay-high-up-6-2-from-a-year-earlier-case-shiller-shows/ The tax overhaul is expected to create winners and losers among housing markets across the U.S., dealing a blow to high-cost coastal regions but potentially fueling demand in places in the middle of the country. The law caps the amount of property and state income taxes filers can deduct, a provision that hits places like New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and California especially hard. It also limits the size of a loan on which homeowners can deduct mortgage interest to $750,000, down from $1 million, which could put a dent in pricey markets. On the other hand, realtors and economic-development officials in less-expensive states believe they can benefit if the tax-law changes encourage people to reconsider their home address. “At some point this draws attention to the cost gap in high-cost areas and growing areas with growing resources like Raleigh, Austin and Charlotte,” said Scott Hoyt, a realtor in North Carolina. “That’s going to be a boon.” At peak impact in the summer of 2019, home prices in Essex and Union counties in New Jersey and Westchester County in New York could all be about 10.5% lower than they would have been without the tax bill, according to Moody’s Analytics. For roughly 80% of counties in the country, the effect of the bill on home prices is likely to be negative, the firm estimates. But some markets could see a slight boost to their economies and to home prices thanks to the bill, including parts of North Carolina, Alabama, Nebraska, Indiana and Tennessee. “They don’t get nailed by the elimination of the [state and local tax] deduction, but they do benefit in the change from the standard deduction and some of the manufacturers benefit from the lower marginal rates for businesses,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. Still, Mr. Zandi cautioned, the changes are modest. Even areas that are likely to see an additional increase in home prices are looking at a boost in the 1% range. Overall, the national impact is likely to be negative. “What this is going to do is it’s going to throw a wet blanket on [the housing market]. It’s still going to move forward, but more slowly,” he said. People are already migrating from high-cost states to lower-cost areas as home prices and rents in large urban centers skyrocket and it becomes easier for people to work remotely. The tax law is likely to accelerate that trend, economists said. Idaho, Nevada and Utah saw the largest percentage growth in population in the country from July 2016 to July 2017, according to U.S. Census data released this month. New York, New Jersey and California, meanwhile, ranked below the top 20 for percentage growth in population. Economists said the tax impact is likely to be felt more by businesses deciding to expand operations in lower-cost states, viewing local taxes as an even greater hindrance. “There’s a neon billboard now [and] the critical mass to induce companies to leave, to induce employees to leave. 2018 is going to see a lot of pressure on this,” said Edward McCaffery, a professor of law and economics at the University of Southern California. The average New York household that itemizes its tax return pays roughly $17,500 in state income and property taxes—well above the $10,000 limit, according to an analysis by Robert Dietz, chief economist at the National Association of Home Builders. A typical California household that itemizes pays close to $14,000 in taxes. Even in slightly less pricey states, such as Illinois, Maryland, Oregon and Vermont, the average taxpayer who itemizes exceeds the new cap. For some homeowners, the differences can be stark. A top income earner in New York who owns a home in the top-third price tier of the metro area pays more than $23,000 in property and state income tax a year, according to an analysis by Zillow. Meanwhile, an affluent homeowner with an expensive home in Raleigh would pay just over $10,000. A homeowner in similar circumstances in Chicago would pay about $12,000 in property and state income tax, while one in the same circumstances in Nashville would pay about one-quarter that much. Scott Mosley, a Redfin real-estate agent in Nashville, said he has one client moving from Chicago who fast-tracked his closing to just three weeks, out of fear he will take a hit on his tax bill next year because of the cap on state and local tax deductions. Tennessee has no state income tax, although it does level a tax on investment income. To be sure, the tax law is merely likely to nudge those already considering moving to a cheaper state. Most homeowners are likely to make other sacrifices before they uproot their lives over a modestly larger tax bill. Steve Bellone, county executive of Suffolk County on New York’s Long Island, said he worries the law will hurt the area economically in the form of lower home values and less consumer spending. Long Island has already struggled to retain younger residents. “The cost of living is high and that’s something we’re always grappling with to try to keep people in the region and keep young people in the region. This is really a devastating blow to all those efforts,” he said. Felicia Fleitman, a 34-year-old who owns a consulting business, Savvy Hires, that helps companies create internships and apprentice programs, said she and her husband pay about $10,000 on property taxes and another $5,000 on state income taxes for their 1,100-square-foot home on Long Island. The couple has two children and Ms. Fleitman is pregnant with a third. She said they would make sacrifices such as taking fewer career risks or buying fewer toys for their children, in order to stay in their home close to family and friends. “At the end of the day, we’re just going to have to figure it out and come up with the money, which means that other things might have to give a bit, which stinks,” she said. The post How Tax Law Will Help Some Housing Markets appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/real-estate-news/httpswww-wsj-comarticleshow-tax-law-will-help-housing-markets-1514116801/ NBA vet Jason Terry is ready to cut a deal. The Milwaukee Bucks point guard owns a huge home on beautiful Mercer Island—just outside Seattle—that he’s been trying to sell since 2013. Now the man nicknamed “Jet” has cut the price on the estate to $2.38 million, down from its initial $2.5 million asking price. Terry, a Seattle native, bought the three-story home in 2004 for $2.36 million. It has more than 6,000 square feet, six bedrooms, five-and-a-half bathrooms and sits on a lush, nearly three-acre lot with a private gated entrance. The upper level includes a master suite with a fireplace, and three additional bedrooms with adjoining bathrooms. The lower level has a guest suite and media room. The home also includes two laundry rooms, wine cellar, and an elevator. The interiors are elegant, understated, and fairly formal with graceful wood floors and tons of molding and refined touches throughout. The entryway is particularly striking. The home’s many pillars support patios that wrap around the home, and the curved walls are striking from the inside, giving the home both elegant lines and tons of light. Quite apart from the home’s beauty, it’s only a 15-minute commute to downtown Seattle. The location, combined with the hot Seattle housing market, should join forces to finally encourage a buyer to step forward. When the home went on the market in 2015 for $2.4 million, Terry could have eked out a small profit. Now he’s on the hook for a possible loss on the property. Terry, 40, was a first-round draft pick of the Atlanta Hawks in 1999. He won an NCAA National Championship with the University of Arizona in 1997, was honored as the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year in 2009, and won an NBA Championship with the Dallas Mavericks in 2011. Now in his 17th season, he’s serving as a veteran presence on the bench for a young and talented Bucks squad. The post Milwaukee Bucks’ Jason Terry Slices Price on Mercer Island Mansion appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/celebrity-real-estate/jason-terry-cuts-price-mercer-island/ Forget politics, the buzziest chefs, or who’s wearing what this season. In New York City, all anyone really wants to know is where the next hot neighborhood will be. That’s because when you live in the ninth most expensive city on the planet--a place where world leaders, celebrities, and artists routinely cross paths with trash collectors, students, and lowly internet editors—how much you’re paying for a roof over your head matters. New Yorkers are known, after all, for reading the obits to get the scoop on open apartments. And they want to get in on the action before prices in the next trendy hood rise to skyscraper levels. So we took a deep dive into this unique, bellwether real estate market, which leads the rest of the country in urban everything. We teamed up with national real estate appraiser Jonathan Miller, co-founder of Miller Samuel, to figure out which NYC neighborhoods were experiencing the biggest median price hikes and which were seeing the biggest falls. Because, of course, New York is actually many cities in one—five separate boroughs filled with dozens of neighborhoods, each with their own distinct personality. You’ve got Manhattan and its high-rises, always hogging the spotlight; uber-trendy Brooklyn with its craft brews, hipsters, and working-class communities; predominantly middle-class, suburban Queens and its immigrant enclaves; the gritty Bronx, perennially touted as “the next big thing”; and oft-forgotten (and oft-maligned) Staten Island. “It’s such a magnet,” Miller says of New York City. “There’s such an extreme range of properties within the five boroughs, from modest single-family, suburban homes all the way up to $250 million penthouses. There’s not much that isn’t covered here.” Some of the results of our data breakdown of winners and losers in New York City real estate shocked us to the core. It turns out, some of the most famously fashionable neighborhoods, where folks pay astronomical sums for the tiniest studios, are statistically on the downturn. Meanwhile, some of the hottest neighborhoods now are little-known enclaves in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens, experiencing booms as more are priced out of more sought-after parts of the city. The main culprit behind both trends is the slew of ultraluxe developments that have come online in the past few years as the city pulled out of the recession. Sales in a high-end building with every imaginable amenity (Stroller valet service! Private Imax theaters! Concierge jet service!) can send a neighborhood’s median prices through the roof. By the same token, once sales in those new developments slow, there aren’t as many big purchases driving up the median prices in a neighborhood. That leads to steep overall drops even if the cost of the rest of the housing stock in the area stays roughly the same. That’s why once-red-hot hoods such as legendary Greenwich Village and Soho show price declines. But don’t take up the collection plate anytime soon: Everyone still wants to live there. “These markets are still very sought-after and in demand,” Miller says. To come up with the rankings, Miller compared all the residential sales for each New York City neighborhood in the third quarter of 2016 and compared them with all purchases in the third quarter of 2017. The data came from public records and included all co-ops, condos, and one- to three-family homes that closed in the third quarters. So what are the next hottest neighborhoods in New York City? Is downtown up? Uptown down? Let’s go to the data and dive into the trends!
Trend No. 1: New luxe developments are skewing prices upLittle Italy and the Flatiron District, both in Manhattan, topped our hot list due to all of the new, luxury housing that’s gone up in recent years. The ascension of Little Italy may come as a shocker to many New Yorkers, who only know the place as a once-gritty, Mafia-esque hangout-turned-tourist trap, filled with overpriced red sauce joints and cannoli shops. Chinatown has been encroaching upon it for years. But the small neighborhood, which real estate agents now whimsically refer to as “Solita” (it includes parts of Soho and Nolita, or “north of Little Italy”), is becoming a bona fide real estate destination. Take the newly renovated condos at 133 Mulberry, where a two-bedroom loft is selling for $1,995,000. Or look at plans developers filed to put up a seven-story condo building that will house the Italian American Museum on the ground floor. “Little Italy really only has room to grow. There’s a lot of older buildings down there,” says Daniel Neiditch, president of New York City–based River 2 River Realty, a luxury real estate brokerage and developer. “There’s a lot of new construction coming up.” Meanwhile, Flatiron—named after the famous triangular building that’s one of the city’s first skyscrapers and known for the ginormous Italian-food mecca Eataly—has seen its own share of development. Former office and other commercial buildings have been converted or torn down as of late to make way for swankier pads. The most striking is the newly completed 65-story Madison Square Park Tower, where one-bedrooms start at $2.5 million. This new development has made Flatiron the most expensive neighborhood in New York, at a whopping median $4.1 million price in the third quarter, according to Miller. And yet “the prices are [still] increasing in that area like crazy,” Neiditch says. Trend No. 2: Some buyers will pay more to live in the city’s suburban enclavesThe idea of living in a large, single-family house with a yard out back in a suburban community while remaining within New York City limits may seem paradoxical. But that’s exactly what more families are choosing to do. In neighboring Little Neck and Douglaston, which sit along the Northern Queens–Long Island border, buyers are competing for a limited number of homes that guarantee access to good public schools—without the high property taxes and the long commutes they’d be saddled with if they left the city. And that’s driving prices up. “Little Neck has very good schools. That’s what brings people to this [neighborhood],” says longtime real estate broker Toula Polios, whose eponymous office is based there. “The next county over is Long Island, and their [property] taxes are higher.” The communities also offer easy commutes to Manhattan. Most of Polios’ clients usually want one- and two-family houses in the $900,000 to $1,200,000 range. More and more, they’ll purchase a property just to tear down the home on it and build a larger one. Her clients also seek out lower-priced co-ops in the $285,000-and-up range. “Buyers are in line waiting for something they can afford,” Polios says. “Sometime you get four or five offers, sometimes more.” Trend No. 3: The Bronx is on the rise, reallyAfter the recession, developers raced to put up pricey new buildings they could charge a bundle for in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and even Queens. But they’ve gotten so expensive that developers have begun turning to the Boogie Down Bronx. Yes, this long-suffering, oft crime-plagued northern borough—once synonymous with “urban blight”—is finally coming into its own as a viable real estate destination. Parts of it anyway. And developers are gambling that more neighborhoods will follow. “Anywhere in the Bronx [is] considered valuable. … They’re making a bet that that will be the next trendy area,” Neiditch says. He pointed out that the borough, sandwiched between Manhattan and uber-pricey, suburban Westchester, has attractive selling points, including some of the nation’s top high schools and the famed New York Botanical Garden and Bronx Zoo. And did we mention the prices? “It has plenty of room to grow [as] prices are very low,” he says. Real estate appraiser Miller calls the gentrifying borough the “new Queens.” Some developers are building upper-end rental buildings and more affordable housing developments from the ground up. Meanwhile, smaller mom-and-pop contractors and flippers are renovating older one- and two-family homes and then selling them for a sweet profit, says real estate broker Andrew Lichtenstein of LichtensteinRE.com. Trend No. 4: New subways put prices on the fast trackIt was three new public transit stations, not a ton of new construction in the older neighborhood of mainly lower-rise, multifamily buildings, that turbocharged Manhattan’s storied Upper East Side. After nearly a century of stalled plans and delays, the Second Avenue subway opened in January to much fanfare. The extension added stops at 72nd, 86th, and 96th streets, connecting this swath of the city to the subway grid. It’s caused prices to shoot into the stratosphere. And that’s forced some longer-time residents out of the neighborhood since they can no longer afford the increasing rents. “In New York City, [subway access is] essential,” says River 2 River’s Neiditch. “It’s your lifeline to get anywhere.”
Not all New York City neighborhoods are growing ever more expensive. What comes up does eventually have to come down. And ironically, many of the same trends responsible for a boost in median prices are also to blame for their eventual drops. Trend No. 1: After a few years, luxe developments can skew prices downIn Greenwich Village, Soho, and midtown’s Central Business District, sales are slowing in some of the newer, luxury buildings. That doesn’t mean that prices are coming down (dear God, if only…). It’s just that there aren’t as many gazillion-dollar sales skewing the median prices of those areas now. Sales closings along midtown’s Billionaires’ Row, the stately area surrounding 57th Street stretching from Park Avenue to 6th Avenue, peaked in 2016. Since then, sales of these exorbitant co-ops and condo units have fallen off as the prices are just so darn high, real estate appraiser Miller says. For example, prices fell 25% at the ultraluxe One57, a 90-story skyscraper on 57th Street that was completed in 2016, says Miller. A three-bedroom, 6,240-square-foot unit in the building is going for a jaw-dropping $70,000,000. (Any takers?) Developers “are realizing the aspirational prices set in 2014 [when the building was planned] aren’t realistic today,” Miller says. “Buyers are just waiting for sellers to come down to where the market is.” Other areas like once-upon-a-time-bohemian Greenwich Village and Soho, home to hip galleries, hip eateries, and hip everything else, simply haven’t had nearly as much new development come online this year. “The new development wave that came through the neighborhoods” have largely played out, Miller says. Trend No. 2: More homes on the market makes buyers even choosierTodt Hill, an affluent suburban neighborhood of large, single-family homes and mansions on Staten Island, was an unexpected addition to our list. Most New Yorkers aren’t even familiar with it. But an influx of inventory coming onto the market at the same time led prices to fall, says local real estate broker Laird Klein. There are currently 27 listings for sale—which is about a dozen or so more than normal. That’s primarily due to baby boomers who were longtime residents now retiring or downsizing, Klein says. Miller believes the neighborhood is a bit overvalued for what it is—it is on Staten Island, hardly in the middle of things. But it has features that keep median prices at $1,125,000. “It always commands the highest prices in Staten Island,” says Klein, who touted the city and ocean views from the neighborhood. “It’s very upscale with tree-lined streets. … [And] the majority of homes are on big properties.” But because prices are so high, there’s often wiggle room for them to come down. If homes don’t sell immediately, there are usually price reductions of around 5% or so. Klein advises his clients to accept offers within 10% or so under asking price. Trend No. 3: Less inventory can lead buyers to hold off or look elsewhereWe just told you how the Bronx is moving up. But it’s actually a tale of two markets: In certain neighborhoods, there simply aren’t many desirable properties left to go around. And instead of pushing prices up, aspiring homeowners seeking affordably priced properties just aren’t buying. That’s what appears to be happening in the Kingsbridge area and other similar parts of the Bronx. The gentrifying area borders Riverdale, an upscale enclave with cute shops and good restaurants that has long been home to wealthier families. But Kingsbridge homes cost about 20% less. “One of the challenges in that area is that it’s prime for buyers seeking affordability,” says real estate appraiser Miller. “But there isn’t a lot of turnover.” For example, sales really picked up in 2014 and 2015, says Chintan Trivedi, a longtime Kingsbridge resident and real estate broker at Re/Max. But these days there aren’t enough homes at the right price on the market. “A lot of people from Queens, Long Island, and Brooklyn, who were priced out in their neighborhoods and wanted to be close to the trains, parks, and amenities like gyms and supermarkets … did buy a lot of properties in Kingsbridge last year,” Trivedi says. Compared with much of the rest of the city, “it’s a good value for people,” Trivedi says. The post Bada Boom, Bada Bust! These NYC Neighborhoods’ Prices Are Rising—and Falling—the Fastest appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®. via https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/new-york-city-neighborhoods-where-prices-are-shooting-up-and-down-the-most/ |
About usI am Casey Abby From USA and I am 30 Year Old. I done my study recently in MBA Marketing. Archives
April 2021
Categories |