November | 2014 | Adam Ashkenas Manhattan Real Estate

Weekly Interest Rate Overview

November 26, 2014 · by Adam Ashkenas

The Markets. Fixed rates on home loans were again stable but slightly lower in the past week. Freddie Mac announced that for the week ending November 20, 30-year fixed rates fell to 3.99% from 4.01% the week before. The average for 15-year loans decreased to 3.17%. Adjustables were mixed but also stable, with the average for one-year adjustables increasing one tick to 2.44% and five-year adjustables decreasing one tick to 3.01%. A year ago, 30-year fixed rates were at 4.22%, which continues to be higher than today’s levels. Attributed to Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist, Freddie Mac — “Fixed rates on home loans were slightly down as housing starts declined 2.8 percent in October, below the upwardly revised September rate. However, building permits increased 4.8 percent in October after a 2.8 percent boost a month earlier. Lastly, industrial production slipped by 0.1 percent in October, below the market consensus forecast.” Rates indicated do not include fees and points and are provided for evidence of trends only. They should not be used for comparison purposes.

Current Indices For Adjustable Rate Mortgages
Updated November 21, 2014

	Daily Value	Monthly Value
	Nov 20	October
6-month Treasury Security	0.07%	0.05%
1-year Treasury Security	0.14%	0.10%
3-year Treasury Security	0.97%	0.88%
5-year Treasury Security	1.64%	1.55%
10-year Treasury Security	2.34%	2.30%
12-month LIBOR		0.552% (Oct)
12-month MTA		0.113% (Oct)
11th District Cost of Funds		0.663% (Sept)
Prime Rate		3.25%

October 2014 Manhattan & Brooklyn Sales Market Snapshot

November 24, 2014 · by Adam Ashkenas

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Manhattan Trends:

The divide between the condo and co-op markets continued to expand in October as co-ops show high demand and limited supply, driving strong market fundamentals.
2,060 new listings were added last month — the second highest number of new listings added to the market since May 2012. Market-wide inventory increased since last month as well as last year. Inventory continues to be skewed toward more expensive, larger units and nearly all of this growth is due to condo listings as co-op inventory remains flat.
Condo inventory, at 2,945 listings, is up 20% over October 2013. Days on market reflects the increasing availability, growing a significant 57% versus last year to 97 days on average.
The co-op market had a strong month with average price per square foot up 1% from last month and up 9% since last year. Days on market dropped 11% from last month and 24% from last year to just 82 days.

Brooklyn Trends:

Average and median sale prices increased, year-over-year 29% and 17%, to $1,351,550 and $927,500 respectively.
Days on market from list to sale continued to shrink to 54 days, down 14% compared to last October.
71% of buyers paid at or above asking price in October.
Total available inventory in Brooklyn increased 18% versus a year ago while new listings increased 60% year-over-year. October 2014 had the highest amount of newly listed inventory since August 2011.

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Weekly Interest Rate Overview

November 18, 2014 · by Adam Ashkenas

The Markets. In the past week, rates were stable near their lows for the year. Freddie Mac announced that for the week ending November 13, 30-year fixed rates ticked down slightly to 4.01% from 4.02% the week before. The average for 15-year loans decreased slightly to 3.20%. Adjustables were mixed, with the average for one-year adjustables falling to 2.43% and five-year adjustables increasing to 3.02%. A year ago, 30-year fixed rates were at 4.35%, higher than today’s levels. Attributed to Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist, Freddie Mac — “Rates on home loans were slightly down on mixed results from October’s employment report. While the unemployment rate declined to 5.8 percent, nonfarm employment rose by 214,000 jobs, which was below consensus expectations. Net revisions for payroll employment in August and September added 31,000 more jobs to the initial readings.” Rates indicated do not include fees and points and are provided for evidence of trends only. They should not be used for comparison purposes.

Current Indices For Adjustable Rate Mortgages
Updated November 14, 2014

	Daily Value	Monthly Value
	Nov 13	October
6-month Treasury Security	0.08%	0.05%
1-year Treasury Security	0.15%	0.10%
3-year Treasury Security	0.97%	0.88%
5-year Treasury Security	1.64%	1.55%
10-year Treasury Security	2.35%	2.30%
12-month LIBOR		0.552% (Oct)
12-month MTA		0.113% (Oct)
11th District Cost of Funds		0.663% (Sept)
Prime Rate		3.25%

October 2014 Manhattan Rental Market Report

November 14, 2014 · by Adam Ashkenas

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October 2014 Facts:

In October 2014, the average monthly rental price for a Manhattan studio was $2,075. For one-bedroom homes, the average was $2,833. For two-bedrooms, the average rent was $3,927. Finally, the average three-bedroom apartment rented for $5,233.

Rents increased 1.8% for studio apartments when comparing October 2013 to October 2014. They decreased a negligible amount for one-bedroom homes, while declining 3% for two-bedroom units. Finally, average rents for three-bedroom apartments fell 1.9% year-over-year.

As usual, the most expensive neighborhood for renters in October was SoHo/TriBeCa, with a median rent of $5,350. The Financial District/Battery Park City was the second priciest area, with a median rent of $3,650.
The least expensive area for renters in Manhattan during October 2014 was Washington Heights, with a median rent of $1,800. When examining neighborhoods below 96^th Street, the Upper East Side’s median rent of $2,200 was the lowest of all areas in this section of the borough.
With a vacancy rate of 1.11%, SoHo/TriBeCa was the area with least inventory in October 2014, followed by Chelsea at 1.30%. On the other end of the spectrum, the vacancy rate was highest in the East Village. Last month, 2.24% of rental units in the neighborhood were vacant. Midtown East was the area with second-highest percentage of available homes, with a vacancy rate of 2.03%.
When comparing the borough’s vacancy rate year-over-year, there was still less inventory on the market in October 2014 than there was last October, despite the recent vacancy rate increases. In October 2013, the Manhattan vacancy rate was 1.65%, slightly higher than October 2014’s rate of 1.62%.

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Weekly Interest Rate Overview

November 4, 2014 · by Adam Ashkenas

The Markets. Rates rebounded in the past week but stayed near their lows for the year. Freddie Mac announced that for the week ending October 30, 30-year fixed rates rose to 3.98% from 3.92% the week before. The average for 15-year loans increased to 3.13%. Adjustables were also higher, with the average for one-year adjustables moving to 2.43% and five-year adjustables increasing to 2.94%. A year ago, 30-year fixed rates were at 4.10%, higher than today’s levels. Attributed to Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist, Freddie Mac — “Rates on home loans rose across the board this week, rebounding from the lowest rates of the year. New home sales grew at an annual rate of 467,000 sales in September, the fastest rate observed during the recovery. Meanwhile, the National S&P Case-Shiller House Price Index grew at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 0.4 percent in August.” Rates indicated do not include fees and points and are provided for evidence of trends only. They should not be used for comparison purposes.

Current Indices For Adjustable Rate Mortgages
Updated October 31, 2014

Daily Value	Monthly Value
October 30	September
6-month Treasury Security	0.06%	0.04%
1-year Treasury Security	0.11%	0.11%
3-year Treasury Security	0.91%	1.05%
5-year Treasury Security	1.58%	1.77%
10-year Treasury Security	2.32%	2.53%
12-month LIBOR	0.578% (Sept)
12-month MTA	0.115% (Sept)
11th District Cost of Funds	0.667% (Aug)
Prime Rate	3.25%