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Coveted Downtown neighborhoods like Soho and the West Village have commanded some of the highest residential rents in Manhattan. But now landlords – most recently Stone Street Properties and SMA Equities – have found that converting ground-floor apartments into retail space is far more profitable. Stone Street filed plans to convert a first floor apartment at 101 MacDougal Street, between Bleecker Street and Minetta Lane, to a store, while SMA Equities did the same at 22 Spring Street, between …

There are three Midtown religious institutions that want to cash in on the city’s Midtown East rezoning proposal: the St. Patrick’s Cathedral, St. Bartholomew’s and Central Synagogue. They want to sell air (aka: the right to build more Manhattan real estate). In fact they feel a bit left out because the Bloomberg administration’s rezoning plan would allow them to reap the material rewards of these rights, but they found themselves just outside of the rezoned area.
The proposal aims to …

The trend of decreasing inventory (i.e. homes available for sale) is still very much a reality. Many brokers report stories of harsh bidding wars for the best apartments. One agent said that his client lost his bid since he was competing against 45 other offers for a condo in Williamsburg.
It is easy to believe that in some cases the closing price ends up being higher than the asking price.
The main element that can be of advantage to buyers …

U.S. home prices jumped 9.7 percent in January from the same month in 2012 and  NYC properties grew at even a slightly higher rate, according to new report released by CoreLogic. This nationwide figure, which included distressed sales, marked the 11th consecutive monthly increase and the biggest  since April 2006. In the New York metropolitan area, which includes White Plains and Wayne, N.J., home prices with distressed sales factored in rose 11.1 percent year-over-year in January.

Acquisition and development firm Keystone Group is slated to bring a luxury seven-story condominium (with retail on the ground floor) to a prime West Village location — 130 Seventh Avenue South. In December, Keystone — also at work on 391 Broadway — paid $6.3 million, or $1,983 per square foot, for the 3,500 square-foot property between Charles and West 10th St — once home to Veranda restaurant. No word yet on the design (but the site is within the Greenwich …

We have officially reached the lowest level of inventory available since the year 2000. The appraisal company Miller Samuel reported that in the fourth quarter of 2012 there were only 4,749 units (condos and co-ops) available for sale.
Similarly the website StreetEasy showed that the number of listings available declined almost 14% from the last quarter of 2011 to the last quarter of 2012.
Needless to say, well priced apartments receive multiple offers after the first open house and end …