The third-floor walk-up, located at 142 W. 109th St., where President Obama lived while he was a student at Columbia University in the 1980s, is on the rental market. The two-bedroom prewar unit is being offered for $2,400 a month (Obama and a roommate paid $360 back in 1981). The apartment was last on the market in 2010, when it rented for $1,900 a month. “Who knows, you just might end up in the White House one day,” the listing for the spot says.

President Obama’s former neighborhood is also on fire. Upper Manhattan – above 110th on the west side and 96th Street on the east – and Brooklyn are leading gains in New York City commercial-property deals this year as apartment buildings in the areas attract investors. According to brokerage Massey Knakal Realty Services, sales of properties in upper Manhattan totaled $441 million in the first half, triple the number for the same period in 2011. Meanwhile, Brooklyn transactions rose 60% to $1.53 billion. For the entire city, deals climbed 14 percent to $14.4 billion.

Buyers are turning to apartments in Upper Manhattan and Brooklyn as prices remain flat for offices, which account for the biggest portion of the market. Sales in upper Manhattan are rising in part because big institutional investors like  AREA Property Partners LP are selling real estate they bought during the market’s peak in 2006 and 2007. In Brooklyn, investor interest is concentrated in Williamsburg, Greenpoint and downtown Brooklyn, which combined for about three-quarters of sales volume in the borough this year.

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Warmest Regards,
Riccardo Ravasini