REFinBlog

March 18, 2015

Reiss on Foreign Buyers in NYC

MainStreet.com quoted me in Foreign Buyers Driving Up Rental Prices Impacts New York Residents. The story opens, Emir Bahadir, a native of Turkey, purchased two apartments in Manhattan for the purpose of renting them out. The 24-year-old paid a total of … Continue reading →

March 11, 2015

Housing Affordability Across The Globe

The 11th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey: 2015 has been released. The survey provides ratings for metropolitan markets in Australia, Canada, China, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, the U.K. and the U.S. There are some interesting global trends: Historically, … Continue reading →

March 5, 2015

Housing and Vacancies in NYC

New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) has released its initial findings of its 2014 Housing and Vacancy Survey. There are some interesting findings about the housing stock, particularly for those of us who follow the NYC … Continue reading →

March 2, 2015

Airbnb and Profiteering

A NYC Housing Court judge issued a Decision/Order in 42nd and 10th Associates LLC v. Ikezi (No. 85736/2014 Feb. 17, 2015) that resulted in the eviction of a rent stabilized tenant who had rented his apartment through Airbnb at a … Continue reading →

Monday’s Adjudication Roundup

Morgan Stanley agrees to pay the DOJ $2.6 billion to end investigation about its mortgage-backed securities deals during the financial crisis. MetLife settles with DOJ for $123.5 million for issuing mortgages that did not meet underwriting standards. Settlement Agreement. Statement … Continue reading →

February 27, 2015

Economic Segregation in NYC and the USA

Richard Florida and Charlotta Mellander have released Segregated City: The Geography of Economic Segregation in America’s Metros. The executive summary reads, Americans have become increasingly sorted over the past couple of decades by income, education, and class. A large body … Continue reading →

January 30, 2015

Housing in Smart Cities

I attended an interesting research seminar led by Anthony Townsend yesterday at NYU’s Center for Urban Science and Progress (conveniently located in downtown Brooklyn). Professor Townsend is affiliated to NYU’s Rudin Center for Transportation Policy & Management. He discussed his recent … Continue reading →