The American economy is continuing to grow from a “modest to moderate pace” from early October through mid November-2013, as per the Beige Book report of the Federal Reserve.

1. New York real estate in a holiday mood
The American economy is continuing to grow from a “modest to moderate pace” from early
October through mid November-2013, as per the Beige Book report of the Federal Reserve.
The Federal Reserve releases the Beige Book eight times a year that reports about the
business conditions in each of the Federal Reserve’s 12 regional bank districts. The
economic growth as per this report in the Second District – New York has continued at a
moderate pace ever since the last report. Both the commercial and residential New York
real estate markets have seen mixed results since the last report.
Economists are predicting that there may be continued home price appreciation nationwide
even though at a slower rate over the next few wintery months. Buyers and sellers should
anticipate a seasonal holiday slowdown in the real estate NYC market. The contacts in the
western New York State was robust in October and early November. The sales volumes of
the available New York properties for sale have been exceptionally strong with the prices
continuing to rise and there are ongoing reports of multiple offers and price wars. The multifamily construction is continuing to experience moderate to strong growth with the strength
concentrated on the apartment segment. The vacancy rates declined within the real estate
NYC.
The sales activity in the New York City’s co-op and condo market has retreated during the
4th quarter preceded by an exceptionally strong third quarter with the prices having leveled
off. There is however, a reasonable amount of new development in the available luxury
home sales at the high end of the market. Inventories across the rest of the market
remained lean. Manhattan’s renal market has also softened slightly with the rents running
modestly lower when compared with the previous year. Single-family construction in this
city remains weak amidst a fair amount of multi-family development in addition to
renovation and alteration work.

2. The commercial real estate market has produced mixed results in the fourth quarter. In
Manhattan, the outer boroughs, and Long Island the office vacancy rates continued to
decline while the asking rents continues to rise though modestly for the available New York
apartments for rent and for Class A properties. Nevertheless, in the Westchester and
across upstate New York vacancy rates climbed to multi-year highs. The international real
estate buyers off late have changed their real estate investment plans due to economic
crisis. Industry experts opine that there occurred major repercussions within the major
sources of international capital in addition to a major shift in the investors’ plan for investing
in the real estate.
According to the Real Capital Analytics (RCA) data, real estate buyers from Asia both
consisting of individuals and institutional funding organizations have increased their stake in
Manhattan property from under $200 million in 2010 to $1.36 billion in 2012. During the
same period, Australian investors and investors from certain European countries especially
Germany have exited from Manhattan real estate market. International real estate
buyers and investors have started to make investment directly in the Manhattan real estate
market by providing equity or debt financing to a local developer instead of investing in a
real estate investment trust. These investors want to have a direct control over their
decisions instead of depending on third party transactions.