December | 2014 | Adam Ashkenas Manhattan Real Estate

Weekly Interest Rate Overview

December 23, 2014 · by Adam Ashkenas

The Markets. Fixed rates on home loans fell to their lowest levels of the year in the past week. Freddie Mac announced that for the week ending December 18, 30-year fixed rates fell to 3.80% from 3.93% the week before. The average for 15-year loans decreased to 3.09%. Adjustables were also lower, with the average for one-year adjustables decreasing to 2.38% and five-year adjustables falling to 2.95%. A year ago, 30-year fixed rates were at 4.47%, which is over 0.5% higher than today’s levels. Attributed to Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist, Freddie Mac — “The 30-year fixed rates on home loans dropped to its lowest point of 2014 this week. Rates fell along with 10-year Treasury yields, which closed at their lowest level since May 2013. November housing starts came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.028 million starts, down 1.6 percent from an upwardly-revised October value. Housing starts for the calendar year will likely come in around 1.0 million, above the 2013 pace, but lower than forecasters had expected at the start of 2014. Consumer prices declined more than expected in November, with the Consumer Price Index contracting 0.3 percent.” 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 December 19, 2014

	Daily Value	Monthly Value
	Dec 18	November
6-month Treasury Security	0.12%	0.07%
1-year Treasury Security	0.25%	0.13%
3-year Treasury Security	1.10%	0.96%
5-year Treasury Security	1.68%	1.62%
10-year Treasury Security	2.22%	2.33%
12-month LIBOR		0.562% (Nov)
12-month MTA		0.114% (Nov)
11th District Cost of Funds		0.671% (Oct)
Prime Rate		3.25%

November 2014 Manhattan & Brooklyn Sales Market Snapshot

December 23, 2014 · by Adam Ashkenas

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Manhattan Trends:

This month saw co-ops take the highest percent of sales (60%) compared to condos since January 2012.
Contracts signed market-wide are down 6% year-over-year overall, but again split by market: condo sales are down 19% while co-op sales are up 5%.
Strong year-over-year price growth resumed in the condo market; median price, average price, and average price per square foot all saw double-digit gains. Condo inventory contains disproportionately large and expensive units, driving down the number of sales. This month saw 29% fewer sales than last month, a higher-than-average drop from October to November.
The co-op market continued to see steady overall price growth since last November with price per square foot up 4% and average price up 11%. Listed inventory is flat versus last year but down 8% versus last month, reflective of the increase in sales.

Brooklyn Trends:

Brooklyn average sale price increased 20% year-over-year, the 22nd consecutive month of positive growth. Median sale price increased 8% year-over-year.
Brooklyn saw a notable 35% increase in contracts signed, in contrast to the 19% decrease in Manhattan contract activity during the same time.
64% of buyers paid at or above asking price in November.
Days on market from list to sale continued to shrink, decreasing by 5% compared to last November.
Year-over-year total available inventory in Brooklyn increased 19% and new listings increased 30%.

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November 2014 Manhattan Rental Market Report

December 12, 2014 · by Adam Ashkenas

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November 2014 Facts:

When compared to October 2014, average rents in November declined 3% for both studio and three-bedroom units. Rents for one-bedrooms fell 2%, while two-bedroom homes decreased in price by 1% on average.

In November 2014, the average monthly rental price for a Manhattan studio was $2.062. For one-bedroom homes, the average was $2,814. For two-bedrooms, the average rent was $3,907. Finally, the average three-bedroom apartment rented for $5,098.
In November 2014, the borough-wide vacancy rose to 1.73% from October’s rate of 1.62%, and marked the highest vacancy rate seen in 2014 so far. The last time the vacancy rate was this high was nearly a year ago, when the rate hit 1.82% – in December of 2013.

The only Manhattan neighborhoods that experienced vacancy rate declines from October to November were Midtown East (from 2.03% to 1.90%) and The Upper East Side (from 1.31% to 1.24%) this was caused, in part, by price-sensitive apartment seekers choosing new homes in these relatively affordable neighborhoods. When examining incentives, 11% of rental transactions brokered by Citi Habitats offered a free month’s rent and/or payment of the broker fee to entice new tenants in November, up from 7% in October.

With a vacancy rate of 1.20%, SoHo/TriBeCa was the area with least inventory in November 2014, followed by The Upper East Side at 1.24%. On the other end of the spectrum, the vacancy rate was highest in the East Village. Last month, 2.69% of rental units in the neighborhood were vacant. The Upper West Side was the area with second-highest percentage of available homes, with a vacancy rate of 2.04%.

When examining incentives, 11% of rental transactions brokered by Citi Habitats offered a free month’s rent and/or payment of the broker fee to entice new tenants in November, up from 7% in October.

New York, NY (December 11, 2014) – Leading Manhattan real estate brokerage Citi Habitats released its monthly rental market analysis for November 2014 today. The report found that all metrics used to examine the state of the city’s rental market continued their shift to the tenants’ favor. In November, Manhattan rents fell slightly across all apartment categories, the vacancy rate continued to climb, and landlords increased their use of move-in incentives

“The recent rent declines and climbing vacancy rate are to be expected this time of year,” commented Gary Malin, President of Citi Habitats. “No one is moving during the holiday season unless they have to. As a result, this trend will likely continue next month, but we expect 2015 to start off strong due to this pent-up demand. However, what’s interesting is that vacancies have risen consistently for five months. The rate began to tick up back in July, which is typically a month of strong demand. This implies that rents have likely been pushed about as far as they can go. As a result of the high cost of rental housing in Manhattan, increasing numbers of apartment seekers are finding good value and a great lifestyle in a variety of outer-borough neighborhoods.”

Click the image above to access the full report

Weekly Interest Rate Overview

December 9, 2014 · by Adam Ashkenas

The Markets. Fixed rates on home loans fell in the past week. Freddie Mac announced that for the week ending December 4, 30-year fixed rates fell to 3.89% from 3.97% the week before. The average for 15-year loans decreased to 3.10%. Adjustables were also lower, with the average for one-year adjustables decreasing to 2.41% and five-year adjustables falling to 2.94%. A year ago, 30-year fixed rates were at 4.46%, which is over 0.5% higher than today’s levels. Attributed to Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist, Freddie Mac — “Fixed rates on home loans were down across the board in a week of underwhelming economic releases. New home sales missed consensus expectations by selling at an annual pace of 458,000 units in October and the National Association of Realtors reported that pending home sales dipped in October by 1.1 percent. The ADP’s estimate for payroll growth in November was 208,000 jobs, below expectations of 225,000.” 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 December 5, 2014

	Daily Value	Monthly Value
	Dec 4	November
6-month Treasury Security	0.08%	0.07%
1-year Treasury Security	0.14%	0.13%
3-year Treasury Security	0.97%	0.96%
5-year Treasury Security	1.59%	1.62%
10-year Treasury Security	2.25%	2.33%
12-month LIBOR		0.562% (Nov)
12-month MTA		0.114% (Nov)
11th District Cost of Funds		0.671% (Oct)
Prime Rate		3.25%

Weekly Interest Rate Overview

December 2, 2014 · by Adam Ashkenas

The Markets. Fixed rates on home loans were stable and slightly lower for the third straight week. Freddie Mac announced that for the week ending November 26, 30-year fixed rates fell to 3.97% from 3.99% the week before. The average for 15-year loans remained at 3.17%. Adjustables were also unchanged, with the average for one-year adjustables stable at 2.44% and five-year adjustables staying at 3.01%. A year ago, 30-year fixed rates were at 4.29%, 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 little changed for the week, with 30-year fixed-rates declining to 3.97 percent. This comes during a week of uplifting economic news heading into the holiday; GDP growth was revised up in the third quarter from 3.5 percent to 3.9 percent, while existing homes sold at a 5.26 million unit pace in October, topping expectations of 5.15 million units.” 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 28, 2014

	Daily Value	Monthly Value
	Nov 26	October
6-month Treasury Security	0.07%	0.05%
1-year Treasury Security	0.14%	0.10%
3-year Treasury Security	0.93%	0.88%
5-year Treasury Security	1.56%	1.55%
10-year Treasury Security	2.24%	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%