Residential

Hudson Valley Home Sales Market Remained Strong in 2018. Sales Slow Down, But Median Prices Continue to Rise in Region

January 2019

WHITE PLAINS—The Hudson Valley residential sales market remained strong in 2018, despite lower sales due mainly to a lack of available inventory. In a report released earlier this month by the Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Service, Inc., the overall five-county market serviced by HGMLS (Westchester, Rockland, Orange, Putnam and Sullivan counties) saw a 2.6% decline…

Dems Introduce Bill to Protect Fed Workers From Foreclosure, Eviction During Government Shutdown

January 2019

WASHINGTON—A bill has been introduced in the U.S. Senate to protect 800,000 federal workers, including thousands across New York State, and their families, from potentially losing their homes, facing apartment eviction or falling behind on bills that could then go to collection. On the 30th day of the partial federal government shutdown, US Senator Brian…

Con Ed Imposes Natural Gas Moratorium That Could Jeopardize Westchester’s New Development Market

January 2019

WHITE PLAINS—Westchester County political and business leaders are scrambling to gauge the potential economic impact of a moratorium on new natural gas connections for a majority of the county by utility Con Edison. Some fear the moratorium, to begin March 15, could all but halt several billion dollars’ worth of new development projects in the…

Appellate Court Deals Blow to Title Insurance Industry

January 2019

NEW YORK—A New York State Appellate Court has overturned an earlier lower court ruling and has upheld controversial state regulations that restrict what state regulators have termed excessive marketing costs and other unscrupulous activity in the title industry. The Appellate Division, First Department, on Jan. 15 reversed a ruling last July by New York Supreme…

Yonkers IDA Approves Incentives for Three Major Projects Amid Dispute with Building Trades

January 2019

YONKERS—The Yonkers Industrial Development Agency reports it has approved more than $13.6 million in incentives for three major development projects in the city. The IDA’s Board of Directors approved at its meeting last Friday resolutions of intent to provide financial incentives for two mixed-use developments and one strictly residential project totaling more than $391 million…

Houlihan Lawrence Holds Book Drive for Local Children in Need

January 2019

RYE BROOK—For the fourth consecutive year, real estate brokerage Houlihan Lawrence held a holiday book drive for local children in need, gathering more than 1,000 titles for preschool to middle school-aged readers. Collection bins were placed across the firm’s network of 30 field offices in New York and Connecticut, where they were quickly filled by…

Median Home Prices Rise in Hudson Valley; Sales Fall in Most HGAR Markets in 2018

January 2019

WHITE PLAINS—While remaining robust, residential sales in some areas of the lower Hudson Valley were slightly lower in 2018 than the historic highs of the past two years. In 2018, Westchester, Rockland and Orange counties all experienced declines in the number of residential sales as compared to 2017, according to the “2018 Annual and Fourth…

10 Things to Watch Out for in 2019

January 2019

WHITE PLAINS—While I do not profess to possess the prognostication skills of the “Amazing Kreskin” or “Carnac the Magnificent,” I thought I would share my thoughts with the Real Estate In-Depth readership on the top stories/issues I believe could have an impact on the commercial, residential real estate and capital finance markets in the Hudson…

NAR Helps Secure FEMA Reversal on New Flood Policies During Government Shutdown

January 2019

WASHINGTON—In what the National Association of Realtors described as a “critical win for home sales,” the Federal Emergency Management Agency reported on Dec. 28 that it will issue and renew flood insurance policies during the partial shutdown of the federal government, reversing an unexpected and controversial ruling the agency released several days earlier. "FEMA and…

NAR’s Malta Tells Congress Housing Finance Reform Must Be Bipartisan

December 2018

WASHINGTON—On Dec. 21, National Association of Realtors President-Elect Vince Malta testified before the House Financial Services Committee. During the hearing, “A Legislative Proposal to Provide for a Sustainable Housing Finance System: The Bipartisan Financing Reform Act of 2018,” Malta, a third-generation Realtor and the CEO and broker of Malta & Co., Inc. in San Francisco,…

Study Shows Many Families Leaving Hudson Valley Costing the Region $1.3 Billion in Income Each Year

December 2018

POUGHKEEPSIE—The Hudson Valley saw an overall loss of more than 28,000 households during the period 2011-2016, according to a report released by the Marist Bureau of Economic Research on Dec. 12. The study, “Migration Report of the Hudson Valley 2011-2016,” utilized IRS county-to-county migration data. The loss of households is a serious issue, the bureau…

NAR Releases Reports on Blockchain Technology And Consumer Home Buying Preferences/Trends

December 2018

WASHINGTON—The National Association of Realtors unveiled a Blockchain Guidance Paper earlier this month during a webinar designed to keep real estate at the forefront of conversations surrounding the emerging technology. NAR also authored a paper that found buyers continue to overwhelmingly utilize both the Internet and real estate agents in the home-buying process. Although blockchain…

Grand Lux Realty Opens New Office in Chappaqua

December 2018

CHAPPAQUA—Grand Lux Realty announced on Dec. 4th the opening of its Chappaqua office at 211 King St. The new location will be Grand Lux Realty’s fourth office. The residential brokerage firm also operates offices in Armonk, Ardsley and Mamaroneck. The firm now has more than 225 agents and is looking for additional licensed agents, the…

Just In: County Executive Latimer Signs Co-Op Transparency Bill

December 2018

WHITE PLAINS— In one of the biggest legislative victories in the history of the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors and its predecessor organizations, Westchester County Executive George Latimer signed into law today a bill aimed at reforming the cooperative purchase process. At a press conference on Dec. 14 County Executive Latimer signed the bill, sponsored…

Yonkers IDA Approves Adaptive Reuse ‘Mill’ Project

December 2018

YONKERS—The Board of Directors of the Yonkers Industrial Development Agency has approved a resolution of intent earlier this month with the developer of a former loft warehouse in the Carpet Mills Art District. The project by Momentum Realty Associates of Yonkers will convert the light-industrial building at 222 & 252C Lake Street into an office…

Westchester IDA Approves Half a Billion Dollars in New Projects

December 2018

WHITE PLAINS—The Westchester County Industrial Development Agency has granted preliminary and final approvals for more than $531 million in new development projects in White Plains, Harrison and Pelham. On Nov. 29, the Westchester County IDA granted a resolution of intent to provide financial incentives for AvalonBay Communities’ $76.8-million transit-oriented, mixed-use residential project to be built…

New Rochelle Apartment Tower Trades for Nearly $260M

December 2018

NEW ROCHELLE—A partnership of Azure Partners and Harbor Group International, LLC has acquired the 40-story Halstead New Rochelle Metro North apartment tower here for $259.4 million. The tallest residential building in Westchester County was sold by the DSF Group, which acquired the 588-unit apartment building in 2013 for more than $210 million. Holliday Fenoglio Fowler,…

Most Counties in HGAR Region See Increased Home Loan Limits

December 2018

WASHINGTON—On Nov. 27, the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced it will raise the national conforming loan limit for 2019 by 6.9% from $453,100 to $484,350. In addition, the high-cost limit will rise from $679,650 to $726,525. As a result, loan limits will be higher in all but 47 counties or county equivalents across the country…

December Legislative Update: Proposed Increase to Residential Appraisal Threshold

December 2018

On Nov. 20, 2018, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (collectively "the agencies") released a proposed rule that would increase the current threshold for residential real estate transactions requiring an appraisal to $400,000. The current threshold is $250,000.…

Rising Prices and Rates Cause New Home Sales to Fall Sharply

November 2018

WASHINGTON—Sales of newly built, single-family homes fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 544,000 units in October after an upwardly revised September report, according to newly released data by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. This is the lowest sales pace since December 2016. However, on a…