As recently reported by The Real Deal, the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) has started to make splashy purchases in New York’s real estate market, increasingly drawing the industry’s attention. For example, in August, the sovereign wealth fund bought nearly 10% state in Empire State Realty Trust, which owns the Empire State Building among other office and retail properties. And over the past two years, the fund has bought $3.78 billion worth of Manhattan p
roperties (source: Real Capital Analytics), including …
by Riccardo Ravasini The city in August announced that the Department of Planning would initiate a study on the neighborhood for a possible rezoning. In doing so, Gowanus will join East Harlem, East New York and Long Island City as areas targeted for rezoning under the city’s affordable-housing strategy.
Surrounded on three sides by Park Slope, Carroll Gardens and Boerum Hill, Gowanus has been dubbed the next Dumbo. Between 2007 and 2015, median home sales prices rose to $720,000 from $535,335 — a …
by Riccardo Ravasini According to a new report from Miller Samuel, the average sale price for luxury condos in Miami and Miami Beach plunged 30% year over year in the third quarter, to $948,700 and $2.6 million respectively. The number of luxury condo sales also dropped by 25% in MIami and 17% in Miami Beach — amidst a glut of high-priced homes and condos. Inventory of luxury condos in Miami Beach jumped 30% in the quarter compared with a year ago while in …
by Riccardo Ravasini As reported by the Miami Herald, the commercial real estate market outlook looks strong as we head into 2017. The only caveat is: as long as more mass transit is on the horizon.
In the office market, rents are at an all-time high in certain markets, according to Cushman & Wakefield which represents nearly 5 million square feet of office space in South Florida. For instance: Office space in Brickell is hitting around $60 a square foot for Class A …
by Riccardo Ravasini Brazilian investors, seeking an alternative to their country’s risky real estate market, are returning to Florida to invest in property and establish an income source in dollars. Back in Brazil, the economic crisis and rising unemployment have sent rents down 5.2 percent in the past year while rents in Miami were stable in the first half of the year.
Brazilians were third among foreigners searching for South Florida real estate in June, according to the Miami Association of Realtors, after …
by Riccardo Ravasini 
Near the Williamsburg Bridge and next to the Essex Street subway on Delancey Street is an underground one-acre expanse. That very land, dormant for the past 60 years, has long been conceived by Dan Barasch, a strategist previously with Google and the City of New York, and architect James Ramsey as a park — called the Lowline (inspired by the Highline). The duo finally received a nod of approval from the city which had issued an RFP earlier this year …
by Riccardo Ravasini