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a “small” deal says it all
Sales volume didn’t seem to decrease at the turn of the year. Data by company UrbanDigs show that as of January 1, 2013 there were 21% more pending sales (meaning sales that are about to close and for which a contract has been already signed) of Manhattan condominiums, co-ops and townhouses versus the same day last year. The area with the highest increase is Harlem/Morningside Heights with a jump of 117% year over year.

meals that matter
The Real Deal reports on the brokers’ favorite dining spots to meet clients and speak about big bucks. On the Upper East Side, the Metropolitan Club, founded by J.P. Morgan in 1891 at 1 East 60th Street, is a classic. No press, no photographers, no cell phones permitted; the privacy is almost total here. In midtown, the Four Seasons remains a hallmark and needs no introductions. Nearby at 60 East 55th Street, the Core Club has been …

One World Trade Center is expected to start welcoming its first tenants by the end of 2013. Condé Nast is famously the largest one to have signed up already (it will be a total of 1.1 million square feet of leased space); roughly 5,000 employees of the company should move into the building by 2013. The tower is supposed to be completed shortly after. The media company is a fantastic addition to the commercial mix of the Financial District which …

The market keeps showing its good health and more specifically at its two opposite ends: the entry level segment and the luxury segment.
The statistics are clear. According to Miller Samuel appraisal firm, the market share of studios and one bedrooms sold rose from 51% in the third quarter of 2010 to 55% in the third quarter of 2012. At the same time, three (or more) bedrooms sales went up from a share of 13% to 15%.
That means that …

The Social Network
This month The Real Deal magazine reports on some of the most influential technology entrepreneurs’ NYC pads.
I found interesting how Sean Parker, Napster and Facebook cofounder, once reportedly described his character in the movie The Social Network (played by Justin Timberlake) as a “morally reprehensible human being”. The thing is that his bachelor pad called Bacchus House, bought in 2012 for $20 million and featuring an indoor pool, a private garage and an entire New York …

Average Manhattan rent tops $3,400
The average Manhattan apartment rented for $3,453 in September 2012, according to the September rental report from Citi Habitats. These days, the market for residential rentals in Manhattan is very strong – and various industry reports indicate that the rental market isn’t slowing down any time soon. In fact, Prudential Douglas Elliman’s monthly report reveals that the average number of days a Manhattan apartment spends on the market year-to-date — 39 per listing — is …