Good news for renters — particularly those in the market for NYC’s luxury apartments. The average rent throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn dipped in January while concessions like free rent and comped building amenity fees reached new highs. According to Douglas Elliman report, the use of concessions hit an all-time high for the fourth consecutive month, with more than 30 percent of leases including a concession now.
In Manhattan, the median rent has been on the decline for six consecutive months, ...

Since January 2016, the 421a abatement — which saves developers big in taxes and creates some affordable housing — has been unavailable for new development projects. But that will soon change with a forthcoming bill that will revive the developer tax cut in exchange for setting aside subsidized affordable apartments. With a new name “Affordable New York,” the tax abatement program would create 2,500 units of new affordable housing per year and will extend the tax incentives for 40 years, ...

After five years of stalling and discussions, a two-block section of the East River Esplanade between Catherine Street and Pike Slip finally got the green light to move forward as planned. The hold up, in a nutshell, was due to the Department of Environmental Protection’s plans to redo some water mains near the proposed stretch of esplanade that would have prohibited the city’s Economic Development Corporation from moving forward with the redevelopment. Those plans have now been dropped since the ...