CLOSE your eyes, click your heels, and repeat, “It is a good time to be in real estate.” That is a message that Franck Ruimy, a London-based investment manager, has been sharing as he travels to New York and other cities, looking for trophy apartments for his European investors.

United States – Just a quick update on some New York City data points I have come across recently. Strangely, the Fed put out its Beige Book yesterday and the overview of New York (Second District) bears very little resemblance to the anecdotal data I am seeing. My friend Mike Stoler has an article out in [...]

United States – Sure happy it’s Thursday to share my Three Cents Worth on Curbed, at the intersection of neighborhood and real estate. This week I am reminded that if  I place more than two lines on a chart, nobody cares. Source: Matrix – U.S.A.

El secretario del Tesoro dijo que el gobierno debe plantearse “qué papel, en general, y estas entidades, en particular, deben jugar en el mercado inmobiliario”. WASHINGTON.- El secretario del Tesoro, Henry Paulson, dijo hoy que el Gobierno de Estados Unidos debe replantearse su participación en el mercado inmobiliario y los subsidios que otorga a la compra [...]

La semana pasada el secretario del tesoro americano Paulson le pidió al congreso la aprobación de un paquete de ayuda urgente por $700 billones de dólares (700 mil millones). Su frase fue “estamos literalmente a días de un derretimiento total del sistema financiero”. Ben Bernanke, el presidente de la FED, no pudo estar más de [...]

Los Ángeles. El valor de las casas lujosas en Los Ángeles y San Diego tuvieron el mayor descenso en más de diez años en el segundo trimestre.

Question I live in a co-op in Manhattan. My building shut off the water supply one morning because of a pipe emergency in the basement. No notification was given to tenants and as a result I inadvertently left my water taps in my bathroom in the open position while getting ready for work. I also had [...]

Lending units of KB Home, Lennar, Richmond American and other builders steered buyers into risky mortgages, a report by the group says. One of the biggest construction workers unions on Thursday warned of more housing problems ahead — particularly for borrowers living in new-home communities — and lays much of the blame on the nation’s home [...]

WHAT: A 723-square-foot two-bedroom two-bath adobe in the historic Guadalupe District HOW MUCH: $299,000 PER SQUARE FOOT: $413.55 SETTING: The house was originally a cluster of casitas, joined and modernized in 1995. The developer tried to keep as many traditional features as possible (although the original dirt and cow’s blood floors were redone). Guadalupe’s old train station is [...]

Mortgage rates are rising because of the troubles at the loan finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, threatening to deal another blow to the faltering housing market. Even as policy makers rushed to support the two companies, home loan rates approached their highest levels in five years. The average interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages rose [...]