Wall Street is convinced that your house is a better investment than you think. In the past six months, a number of investment firms, hedge funds, private equity partnerships and real estate investors have turned into ravenous buyers of single-family homes – and not just any homes… but foreclosures. Investment banks, who also want in on the action, are lining up financing options to continue the acquisitions. For instance: about a year ago, private equity powerhouse Blackstone Group wasn’t even ...

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 ...

This stretch of land, which takes its name from the little canal that was part of the city landscape between 1811 and 1819 intersecting Manhattan from east to west at this site, is about to undergo a process of change and gentrification.
At this time Canal is still mostly a chaotic aggregate of souvenirs, fake bags and cheap technology shops. To be noted though is the fact that the landlords who own the buildings where these stores are located are ...

The median price for a new construction condo in Manhattan went up 10% from May 2011 to May 2012.
Several elements point to a new wave of condominiums construction in NYC. A project that reopened the gates of positive thinking is One57. Especially for its size (the condo is the tallest residential structure in the Manhattan), One57 has had a significant psychological impact pushing people to believe that, even in less than favorable economies, big projects can be brought to ...

The housing bust is finally over after nearly seven years. The numbers and trends are now convincing to prove the market has turned. So what are they?
We finally saw some rising home prices in the slow-moving S&P/Case-Shiller house-price data after seven months of consecutive declines.
Nearly 10% more existing homes were sold in May 2012 versus May 2011 – many purchased by investors who plan to rent them for now and sell them later.
The inventory of existing homes ...

Could apartments in New York City get any smaller? I guess so… Mayor Bloomberg recently announced a competition for architects to submit designs for mini-apartments measuring just 275 to 300 square feet (25.5 to 28 square meters or half the size of subway cars in Manhattan) to address the surge of demand for studio and one-bedroom rentals. As part of Bloomberg’s “New Housing Marketplace Plan,” a program to finance 165,000 new and renovated units of below-market affordable housing by the ...