Posada Leaves Yankees, and a 5,600sf UES Apartment

As Yankee fans scramble to figure out a new cheer to replace the joyful Hip Hip, Jorge!, Posada begins his retirement by putting his 5,600 square foot, ultra modern apartment at the 77th Street Seville on the market for $11.5 million.

The 4 bedroom, 5 1/2 bathroom condo spans the whole of the Seville’s 11th floor. With the trend of luxury properties going for double the purchase price lately, we were interested in finding out what kind of profit Jorge was looking for, but it’s not quite so straightforward. He and his wife cobbled together the spread over the past several years, snapping up eleventh floor units until they’d acquired the last bit, #11A, for $3.6 million in 2007.

Source: Curbed

Foreclosures in New York 15% Below National Average

As the nation continues to struggle with bad real estate news, New York still fares better than most. In the third quarter of last year, foreclosures accounted for 20% of real estate sales in the U.S. New York foreclosures, on the other hand, represented just 4.6% of all sales, a number on par with the pre-recession national norm. Not only did the Empire State boast the third lowest foreclosure rate, homes also sold for an average price of $298,890, the second highest in the country.

On the flip side, homeowners in Nevada are finding out the hard way that their adage “the house always wins” doesn’t hold true. 75% of Nevada homes sold in 3Q 2011 were in foreclosure, with California and Arizona distant trailers at 44% and 43%, respectively.

Source: The Real Deal

$100K/month SoHo Rental Sports NYC’s Finest Pool

214 Lafayette Street, a 13,000 square foot power-station-turned-mansion, is available for rent for $100,000 a month. If that is out of your price range, you can also spend the night at just $20K a pop. (In case you’re not a numbers person, the monthly price is a slightly better deal.)

What do you get for all that? Bragging rights that you live in the pad where Beyonce filmed “Halo,” 29-foot living room ceilings, stylized modern-meets-the-middle-ages furnishings, and what Curbed is calling the best swimming pool in New York.

After the $300/day pool at the Gansevoort was outed for being one of New York’s biggest cesspools, we’ve been looking for someplace else to swim. And this one even has underwater portholes.

Once you’re done with your dip, retire to the library…

Seek respite on the deck…

Or rejuvenate in the kitchen…

With 13,000 feet at your disposal, you can pick your pleasure. There’s certainly enough space to go around.

Former Coach COO Sells Central Park West Condo for a Mere 40% Gain

In today’s luxury market where Manhattan’s elite are getting twice what they paid for their homes, former Coach COO Keith Monda had to settle for a paltry 40% gain.

The six-story townhouse at 247 Central Park West was originally priced at $32 million in April 2010. The third price chop was the charm, with the 12,270 square foot condo selling for $22.4 million.

Monda bought the mansion at West 85th in 2006 from Abigail Disney, Walt Disney’s grandniece, for $15.6 million.

So what is the moral of this $7 million gain? While designer handbags can make you a fortune, real estate can make you more. On a transaction-by-transaction basis anyway.

Source: Curbed

Manhattan Rentals at Second Fastest Pace in 15 Years

Rents in Manhattan continued their march upward last quarter, with the average rent climbing 4% from the previous quarter to $3,663. That’s up 4.7% from last year.

Remember back in the days when the top chart and the bottom chart had completely different numbers? Well, with concessions down from 40.5% last year to just 7.4%, we’re not seeing too many freebies to skew the charts. Of the lucky 7.4% who got a concession, the average was equivalent to 1.2 months of free rent.

Other numbers of note:

Rents for two and three bedrooms jumped 14% and 18.1% respectively over the past year.
Days on the market is the second-shortest in 15 years, at 37 days.
Listing inventory was up 22.2% from last year.

Source: Prudential Douglas Elliman

4Q Manhattan Market Report: Prices Steady but Sales Slow

2011 came in like a lion and went out like a lamb, with the most active 1Q since 2008 and the slowest 4Q since 2005.

2,011 sales closed in 4Q 2011 (how appropriate!), down 35.3% from last quarter and 12.4% from last year.
The average sales price remained fairly stable at $1,445,484, down 1.3% from last quarter and 2.5% from last year.
The median sales price dropped 6.2% from last quarter to $855,000–up $10K from a year ago.
Listings average 130 days on the market, up from 119 last quarter and 125 last year.
With only 7,221 active listings, inventory continues to drop, down 0.2% from a year ago and 6.5% from last quarter.
The listing discount has improved since last year, down from 8% to 4.9%, but is up a half a percent from last quarter.
Average price per square foot dropped 1.2% from last quarter to $1,117, but is up 5.6% from last year.

Co-ops sales declined along with price indicators, but listing inventory inched up.

Number of sales dropped a whopping 24.4% from last quarter, from 1,317 to 996. This is a 16% drop from last year.
The average co-op sales price dropped 7.7% from last quarter and 7.3% from last year to $1,113,522.
The median sales price was down 9.7% from last quarter to $636,407, almost $50K lower than last year.
At 117 days on the market co-ops were slightly higher than the overall market’s 130 days, but still up 13.6% from last quarter. This is only a one-day shift from the same time last year, though.
The listing discount is down a percentage point from last year to 4.8%, but up from 3Q’s 2.6%
The price per square foot increased a nominal $8 from last year, but was down $55 from last quarter.

Condo sales and market share has expanded year over year, while inventory and discount declined.

The number of sales was down 43.3% from last quarter to 1,015–but the rest of the news is pretty stable.
Average sales price was up 7.1% from last quarter to $1,771,232 and down a nominal 0.7% from last year.
The median sales price, $1,165,000 is 11% higher than last quarter and 16.7% higher than last year.
Listing discount dropped from 10.4% last year to just 4.9% this year.
Listing inventory is down 4.4% from last quarter and 4.6% from last year to 3,382.

Source: Prudential Douglas Elliman

The Indoor Pool Top 5 List

Do you remember walking outside on July 22 when the temperature hit 113 degrees and thinking “maybe last winter wasn’t so bad after all”? It’s human nature. So, today, as we zip up our down jackets our thoughts turn to more tropical places. But who says you can’t have both? These indoor swimming pools make summer vacation last year-round.

This indoor swimming hole features a waterfall, rock walls with tropical plants and a bamboo ceiling. Evidently the Polynesian paradise in Stratham, New Hampshire is buried under a “contemporary” 1980s design that looks like a condo complex. While it may be sad for onlookers, who cares when you’re floating around underground in your own gentler, kinder version of LOST? This, plus 4 bedrooms, 300 feet of riverfront and a 10-car garage can be yours for $1.8 million.

While the pool may not be quite as exotic, the real estate deal is a whole lot better for this Hailey, Idaho mansion. In addition to this swimming pavilion, $1.6 million buys 12,000 square feet with 6 beds and 7 baths just 20 minutes from Sun Valley.

While Medina, Washington may seem like a long ways away, New Yorkers would be right at home with a basement pool. For $10 million this mansion offers 9,500 square feet, 6 bedrooms, and neighbors that include Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates.

Do you think this Greenwich, Connecticut home looks dated? That’s because it is. But in Greenwich, indoor pools are old hat. This 1940s mansion priced at $14.5 million is situated on almost six acres.

For $5.75 million you can have your senses scrambled soaking in this Benton, Michigan pool on Lake Michigan’s eastern shore while looking out the wall of glass doors at the blustery, bitterly cold day and wondering what all the poor people are doing.

Source: Curbed

$88 Million Sale Sets Manhattan Record

The 15 Central Park West penthouse, recently announced for sale by Sanford Weill, former Citigroup Chief, has been snapped up for the full $88 million asking price…by a 22-year-old. This sets the record for the highest individual transaction in New York City history. The proud pending owner, Ekaterina Rybolovleva, daughter of Dmitry Rybolovleva, the 93rd richest man in the world, must have quite a trust fund.

The 4 bedroom, 6 1/2 bath apartment was purchased by Weill and his wife in 2007 for $43.7 million and, in a very public announcement that they were downsizing, put on the market for twice that, with the vow that all profits would go to charity. Ms. Rybolovleva, a resident of Monaco, is currently studying at a US university, and will use the 6,744 square foot penthouse “when visiting New York.”

Dmitry Rybolovleva

Just because they Rybolovlevas paid full price for this transaction, don’t think they’re suckers. Father Dmitry, worth $9.5 billion after he sold his self-built fertilizer business in 2010, paid $95 million cash for Donald Trump’s Palm Beach mansion–$25 million less than asking, and reportedly the highest single residence concession of all time.

When we heard our parents say “the Russians are coming,” this isn’t really what came to mind. But coming they are, and with cash in their pockets. Earlier this year, Russian composer Igor Krutoy paid $48 million for his condo at the Plaza and another $23.85 million for a “little house” in the Hamptons. And in the spring Mikhail Prokhoro, Russia’s third richest man and owner of the New Jersey Nets, was shopping for Hamptons real estate, but is most likely occupied with bigger matters since his announcement last week that he will run for the Russian presidency. But surely the president of Russia will eventually need a multi-million dollar mansion where he can stay “when visiting New York.”

Source: Forbes

NYC “Second” to San Francisco for Most Expensive Homes?

If you know what’s good for you, you don’t tell a New Yorker they’ve come in second. Them’s fightin’ words.

A recent article in Crain’s cites that, at a median home price of $450,000, New York City comes in a distant second to San Francisco, which boasts a $585,000 median home price. Their sources evidently live in the parallel universe of 1986, or take a lenient view of what constitutes New York City, because they also report the fair market monthly rent for a one-bedroom is $1,261 a month, and $1,403 for a 2-bedroom.

According to Elliman’s 3Q rental market report, median rent is $3,098 for a one bedroom in Manhattan, and the median sales price is $911,333.

We demand a recount!

One57 Penthouse Price Now Up To $110 Million

Extell Development Company is not going to be outdone by a 22-year-old trust funder. After the announcement of the Manhattan record-setting $88 million sale of former Citigroup Chief Sanford Weill’s 15 Central Park West penthouse to Russian heiress Ekaterina Rybolovleva, the price on the 10,923 square foot penthouse at One57 jumped 12%, from the previously announced asking price of $98.5 million to a staggering $110 million.

If there’s one thing that’s for sure, the fall of communism has paid off in spades for some. The highest known home sale in the U.S. was also to a Russian billionaire, Yuri Milner, who paid $100 million for a 25,500-square-foot chateau-style mansion in Silicon Valley earlier this year. The nationality of One57′s future penthouse owner may help us determine whether there’s some national pride in paying more than anybody else for real estate.

The new high-rise, located on the gold coast of Central Park, is scheduled to be finished in 2013 and will be the tallest residential development in New York at 1,004 feet. The $110 million penthouse occupies the top two floors of the 90-story building. Here’s the kicker-it won’t even be the biggest apartment in the building. There will be a 13,554 square foot unit occupying the 75th and 76th floors, priced at just $105 million (for now).

Source: Wall Street Journal