Jay M. Heydt, Managing Director of Citi-Habitats, was interviewed by Huliq.com on the state of New York's real estate market. With studies, reports and "experts" commenting on the state of the housing market everyday, the information can seem deluded, inaccurate or irrelevant. Heydt shines a new light on topics concerning NYC houses for sale and rent, Brooklyn real estate, the Queens Waterfront, Long Island City and Astoria markets.
Always on the forefront in NYC real estate news is their unique rental market, which was under some scrutiny recently because of unfair rental increases. Laws are hoping to be passed soon to avoid future scrutiny between landlord and tenant agreements. Despite this, Heydt feels the market in Manhattan isn't out of the water, but is definitely going strong despite the rest of the nation's ailing housing sales and alarming foreclosure rates.
What general real estate trends do you see in your location?
"Majority of deals that were done in 2009 were on the leasing end as 75% of the housing stock in Manhattan are rental properties. In the past year, rental transaction volume was up significantly while prices were down about 20%. On the sales end, which was at a hold at the beginning of 2009, began to get busier each and every month of the year. The 1 bedroom market of 600K and under has been very popular especially with first time home buyers mainly due to low interest rates and current first time home buyer tax credit. New York became a lot more affordable in 2009."
Are they in line with national trends, better or worse?
"Manhattan is an ISLAND of its own. While we are not fully out of the woods yet, I would say we are in much better shape than the rest of the country and turned around a lot faster! We are a transient city and people are always shuffling apartments and know when to jump on an opportunity."
Have you seen your sales increase or decrease in the last quarter? How about the past year?
"We had a huge year in rentals. Actually a record breaking year. Citi Habitats rented nearly 13,000 apartments. In the 4th quarter of 2009, rental transaction volume continued to rise while prices started to stabilize. In the 4th quarter of 2009 of the sales market, sales doubled the volume from the 1st quarter of 2009 due to pent up demand, lower interest rate and lower prices."
What would you say about foreclosed inventories?
"It’s a minimal amount of activity in Manhattan. While Lis pendens filings were up, a majority did not make it to foreclosure. Certain areas of Queens however saw a huge surge in foreclosures this year."
What is the media price of a 3 bedroom house in your area?
"Our market is broken up into two divisions of business, rentals (leasing) and sales. Also different types of buildings are here as well as CONDOS and CO-OPs. In Manhattan, you can find anything from 3 bedrooms in a walk-up 5 story building to a 3 bedroom in a 40 story, 300 unit white glove building."
Is there anything that stands out in your market about real estate, mortgages, modifications or refinancing activity? Is there anything that you want to stand out in our story while covering your area ? "What I believe [...] makes our great city stand out when it comes to real estate is the dynamic rental market that exists here. I believe no other city in our country has the amount of rental choices in a concentrated area like we do. One of the main reasons is because we are a transient city for one, a walking city, with a fantastic transit system that allows everyone to get around town rather quickly with an abundance of different industries to work in. Approximately 75 percent of all buildings in Manhattan are rental properties."
"Manhattan has all types of apartments at all different pricing, giving everyone an opportunity to come here, and have a chance to make their mark on the big apple. When looking at the big picture Its is easy to see that people are not leaving the city, due to the opportunity that exists here and how much safer the city is today."
Source: Jay M. Heydt, Managing Director of Citi-Habitats (www.citi-habitats.com)
Interview by Armen Hareyan
Compiled by Amy Munday
Huliq.com
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