Tag Archives: residential real estate

Average Manhattan rent breaks $5,000 for the first time

July 14, 2022 Admin Leave a comment

The average rental price in Manhattan has topped $5,000 for the first time in Big Apple history, according to a jaw-dropping June market report compiled by Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel.

Specifically, the study tallied an average Manhattan rent of $5,058 per month, which alone would set a city tenant back nearly $61,000 a year. That figure marks a 1.7% month-over-month climb from the $4,975 average rent recorded in May, as well as a 29% year-over-year spike from the $3,922 average found in June 2021.

Last month, Elliman and Miller Samuel revealed that Manhattan’s median rent reached $4,000 for the first time ever in May, a 25.2% year-over-year jump from the $3,195 median the previous May.

Median rent is the mid-point value of the total price samples. Average rent is the sum of all rents divided by the number of the sample size.

Brace yourselves: Manhattan rents have reached a brand new high.

For the first time in history, Manhattan average rents broke the $5,000 barrier.

After falling to record lows in the thick of COVID, NYC rents continue to reach record heights.

Since late 2021, rents have risen for a variety of factors, one of which includes ongoing record-high inflation rates. Locals also began returning to the city from their COVID hideaways, first as schools reopened and later as companies implemented hybrid office-home arrangements. Out-of-towners who work full-time remote also began moving to New York to take advantage of their locational flexibility.

Elliman also added that, with an increase in mortgage rates, would-be buyers have turned to renting, adding even more pressure to an already tight market, which lately has been marked by bidding wars to secure leases for a scarce number of units.

In June, Manhattan saw 6,433 units available for rent — 11.4% more than the 5,776 listed in May, but a nearly 46% drop from the 11,853 available last June. Among them, listing portal StreetEasy shows, the most expensive in the city: a roughly 6,240-square-foot penthouse at One57 on Billionaires’ Row in midtown listed by Deborah Kern of the Corcoran Group for $150,000, with front-seat views of the Hudson and East rivers, as well as Central Park. As for the least expensive, $1,300 per month gets a one-bedroom near an A train station way uptown in Inwood.

StreetEasy shows the city’s priciest listing is a unit at One57 that looks out to both rivers and Central Park front and center.

The One57 rental unit’s dining area looks over the same panoramic view through massive exposures.

Manhattan’s least-expensive rental is located far uptown in Inwood.

The report also tracks statistics in Brooklyn and northwest Queens; between all three areas, a total of 10,271 units were listed in June. In June 2021, there were 26,256. Figures for The Bronx and Staten Island are not included.

For its part, Brooklyn saw an average rent of $3,822, up 20% from last June’s $3,185. Its median, meanwhile, hit $3,300 — a 22% year-over-year climb. Northwest Queens, which includes prime Astoria, saw an average rent of $3,352 in June, up 15.1% from last June’s $2,913 average. That region’s median hit $3,002 in June, up 11.2% from last June.

Anna Finkelstein, 24, graduated from Columbia University’s Doctor of Physical Therapy program in May — and for the last month has searched for a two-bedroom, or a flexible one-bedroom, apartment to share with her college friend, 25-year-old Abby Alden, with the help of BOND salesperson Ekaterina Vorobeva.

Renters on the hunt for a new apartment have had plenty of challenges since late 2021.

“Even in the past three weeks, I think I’ve seen almost 25 to 30 apartments — I’ll go see five in a day,” said Finkelstein, who added she and Alden have searched around midtown east, midtown west, the Upper East Side and the Upper West Side with a $4,000 monthly budget between them.

“We have a pretty wide neighborhood range,” she later added, “but it has not made our search any easier. It means I’m running around more.”

Finkelstein saw one Manhattan apartment whose whole floor was slanted at an angle. Another apartment had its bedrooms in the basement level. At one open house, attendees were told that whoever sent in the deposit first got the apartment. Another open house had 30 people standing in line for 90 minutes total, up the stairs and around the corner.

“When that happens, you just don’t even apply,” said Finkelstein. “You’re like, no way.”

Though Finkelstein can stay with family for now, and Alden has been subletting, they hope things can calm down — and that they can ink a lease in August.

“We just have to keep looking — and we keep reaching out to brokers hoping to get something early before it goes on the market,” said Finkelstein.

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Technology

Greta Garbo’s former NYC home lists for $7.25M

June 10, 2022 Admin Leave a comment

You can now live in the grand home that a star of “Grand Hotel” once called her own.

The floor-through co-op at 450 E. 52nd St. where the actress Greta Garbo lived for nearly 40 years until her death in 1990 has listed for $7.25 million, The Post has learned.

That asking price, though nothing to sniff at, could mean a loss for the unit’s current owners if it sells for that amount. But perhaps history can repeat itself. The residence last sold in late 2017 for $8.5 million, according to city finance records — 43% more than the $5.95 million it asked for sale. At the time, the home’s ties to Garbo, who bought it in 1954 and used it as her primary residence in the decades that followed, prompted a bidding war that drove up the price.

The sellers are listed in public sales records as John and Marjorie McGraw; the former appears to be the former chairman of the publishing company McGraw Hill. Moreover, they also appear to be fans of Garbo — who hailed from Sweden — and seemingly chose to keep her legacy going by keeping certain items that show her tasteful décor.

Garbo resided in this home for nearly 40 years.

Getty Images

Vestiges of Garbo remain, such as the pink silk that coats the walls and headboard of the master bedroom.

Garbo designed the rug that runs across this bedroom.

The living room was Garbo’s favorite space.

The large windows look out to the East River.

The home last listed with a number of her furnishings and works of art intact — and when it sold, reports at the time said the owners didn’t plan on gutting the space. The reports also said that Garbo’s belongings were not included in the sale. Garbo’s great-nephew, Craig Reisfield — whose late mother, Gray, inherited the apartment after Garbo passed away (his parents resided there until 2012) — told the Wall Street Journal that the buyers displayed “a reverence for my great aunt,” adding “I think they’re going to be great stewards.”

But it appears the McGraws kept certain items and installations following the purchase, as the new listing images show immediate similarities with those of the previous. For instance, the master bedroom’s walls and headboard still come clad in Garbo’s favorite pink Fortuny silk, and another bedroom still has a pink- and green-accented V’Soske rug that she reportedly designed herself. Other features, such as wooden wall panels and built-in shelves, still adorn the dwelling.

Something else that remains: the front-seat views of the East River through large windows.

“The passing boats reminded her of her beloved, native Stockholm,” the listing says.

The kitchen comes newly renovated; it includes a new Miele side-by-side refrigerator/freezer. Just off the kitchen stands a formal dining room. The living room, which was Garbo’s favorite space, has a gas fireplace. A balcony even stands on the other side of French doors. Meanwhile, a study with an ensuite bathroom can be used as a third bedroom.

Will Kerr and Woody Kerr, of Corcoran, share the listing with Brian K. Lewis, of Compass, in a co-exclusive.

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Technology

Bill Gates turns $43M mansion into ‘bachelor pad’ nuisance

March 23, 2022 Admin Leave a comment

Before announcing their shocking divorce, Bill and Melinda Gates shelled out a whopping $43 million for an oceanfront estate in San Diego — the latest hot spot in California.

But it looks like Gates, 66, is the one to snag the idyllic property for his own use — and he’s customizing it to a T, The Post can report.

The initial six-bedroom, 3.5 bathroom estate, which spanned 5,800 square feet, has been completely demolished and is being re-built from the ground up at the direction of the Microsoft tycoon himself.

Gates has already stopped by twice in the last few months with his two bulletproof suburban security details to check on the project, local sources told The Post.

And neighbors are not happy about all the disruptions going on.

“It’s been a nuisance,” one neighbor said.

“They make a lot of noise, my baby can’t sleep,” another neighbor explained. “It’s become a real hindrance on the whole neighborhood.”

Upon completion, the property will span more than 6,000 square-feet.

Jesal/Diggzy/Shutterstock

Construction on the site began in the last three months, according to sources.

Getting permission to build in the area in the first place is a feat within itself. According to local officials, obtaining permits takes a while and is nearly impossible. But if you’re Bill Gates, with a net worth of $134 billion, nothing is really off limits.

Although Gates purchased the estate with his now-estranged wife on March 27, 2020, construction did not start until the last three months.

Real estate photos taken prior to the sale of the home show the house was in perfect condition. But Gates still felt the need to gut the entire property.

“The home they purchased was in immaculate condition, not exactly sure why he would want to tear it down,” a local realtor told The Post.

The Del Mar estate stands directly in front of Del Mar Dog Beach.

The estate boasts 120 feet of ocean frontage, making this “resort beach home” a “one-of-a-kind” the previous listing notes.

Located in the upscale Del Mar neighborhood, Gates is planning on using the home as his summer bachelor pad, according to insiders.

“When he comes, he checks the house, walks out in the front, inspects it,” one insider said. The current 24-hour security guards are keeping an eye on the property while it remains under construction are hoping the new house will be completed by August at the latest. Although photos reveal the beginning stages of the build, it appears there is a long way to go.

“They are working around the clock to get it done,” the insider added.

Bill Gates has checked up on the progress of the property twice in the last few months, sources said.

Construction is expected to be completed by August, despite the beginning stages of the project.

According to a source Gates flies into Carlsbad six times a month, which is just a short drive from his house in Santa Fe — 30 minutes from the Del Mar property.

A rep for Gates did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.

When Gates is not in the area, he has residences in Palm Springs and Seattle.

Melinda, 57, and Gates announced they were divorcing in May 2021 after 27 years of marriage. Melinda stated in court papers that the former couple’s relationship was “irretrievably broken.” The divorce was finalized in August.

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World

Putin appears at big rally as troops press attack in Ukraine

March 18, 2022 Admin Leave a comment

Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared at a huge flag-waving rally at a packed Moscow stadium Friday and lavished praise on his troops fighting in Ukraine, three weeks into the invasion that has led to heavier-than-expected Russian losses on the battlefield and increasingly authoritarian rule at home.

Meanwhile, the leader of Russia’s delegation in diplomatic talks with Ukraine said the sides have narrowed their differences. The Ukrainian side said its position remained unchanged.

The invasion has touched off a burst of antiwar protests inside Russia, and the Moscow rally was surrounded by suspicions it was a Kremlin-manufactured display of patriotism. Several Telegram channels critical of the Kremlin reported that students and employees of state institutions in a number of regions were ordered by their superiors to attend rallies and concerts marking the eighth anniversary of Moscow’s annexation of Crimea, which was seized from Ukraine. Those reports could not be independently verified.

Elsewhere, Russian troops continued to rain lethal fire on Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Kyiv, and pounded an aircraft repair installation on the outskirts of Lviv, close to the Polish border. Ukrainian officials said late Friday that the besieged southern port city of Mariupol lost its access to the Azov Sea, and Russian forces were still trying to storm the city. It was unclear whether they had seized it.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces are blockading the largest cities to create a “humanitarian catastrophe” with the goal of persuading Ukrainians to cooperate. He said the Russians are preventing supplies from reaching surrounded cities in central and southeastern Ukraine.

“This is a totally deliberate tactic,” Zelenskyy said in his nighttime video address to the nation, which was recorded outside in Kyiv, with the presidential office behind him.

In a rare public appearance by Putin since the start of the war, he praised Russian troops: “Shoulder to shoulder, they help and support each other,” he said. “We have not had unity like this for a long time,” he added to cheers from the crowd.

Moscow police said more than 200,000 people were in and around the Luzhniki stadium. The event included patriotic songs, including a performance of “Made in the U.S.S.R.,” with the opening lines “Ukraine and Crimea, Belarus and Moldova, it’s all my country.”

Seeking to portray the war as just, Putin paraphrased the Bible to say of Russia’s troops: “There is no greater love than giving up one’s soul for one’s friends.”

Taking to the stage where a sign read “For a world without Nazism,” he railed against his foes in Ukraine with a baseless claim that they are “neo-Nazis.” Putin continued to insist his actions were necessary to prevent “genocide” — an idea flatly rejected by leaders around the globe.

Video feeds of the event cut out at times but showed a loudly cheering crowd that broke into chants of “Russia!”

Putin’s appearance marked a change from his relative isolation of recent weeks, when he has been shown meeting with world leaders and his staff either at extraordinarily long tables or via videoconference.

In the wake of the invasion, the Kremlin has clamped down harder on dissent and the flow of information, arresting thousands of antiwar protesters, banning sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and instituting tough prison sentences for what is deemed to be false reporting on the war, which Moscow refers to as a “special military operation.”

The OVD-Info rights group that monitors political arrests reported that at least seven independent journalists had been detained ahead of or while covering the anniversary events in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

High above the conflict, three Russian cosmonauts arrived Friday at the International Space Station wearing bright yellow flight suits with blue accents matching the colors of the Ukrainian flag. Video of one of the cosmonauts taken as the capsule prepared to dock with the space station showed him wearing a blue flight suit. It was unclear what, if any, message the yellow uniforms were intended to send.

When cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev was asked about the yellow suits, he said every crew chooses its own suits, and they had a lot of yellow material they needed to use “so that’s why we had to wear yellow.”

Since the war started, many people have used the Ukrainian flag and its colors to show solidarity with the country.

Back in Moscow, Putin stood on stage in a white turtleneck and a blue down jacket and spoke for about five minutes. Some people, including presenters at the event, wore T-shirts or jackets with a “Z” — a symbol seen on Russian tanks and other military vehicles in Ukraine and embraced by supporters of the war.

Putin’s quoting of the Bible and an 18th-century Russian admiral reflected his increasing focus in recent years on history and religion as binding forces in Russia’s post-Soviet society. His branding of his enemies as Nazis evoked what many Russians consider their country’s finest hour, the defense of the motherland from Germany during World War II.

The rally came as Vladimir Medinsky, who led Russian negotiators in several rounds of talks with Ukraine, said that the sides have moved closer to agreement on the issue of Ukraine dropping its bid to join NATO and adopting a neutral status.

“That is the issue where the parties have made their positions maximally close,” Medinsky said in remarks carried by Russian media. He added that the sides are now “halfway” on issues regarding the demilitarization of Ukraine.

Mikhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Zelenskyy, characterized the Russian assessment as intended “to provoke tension in the media.” He tweeted: “Our positions are unchanged. Ceasefire, withdrawal of troops & strong security guarantees with concrete formulas.”

Zelenskyy again appealed to Putin to hold talks with him directly. “It’s time to meet, time to speak,” he said. “I want to be heard by everyone, especially in Moscow.”

In other developments, U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke for nearly two hours in a bid by the U.S. to deter Beijing from providing military or economic assistance for Russia’s invasion.

Earlier Friday, one person was reported killed in the missile attack near Lviv. Satellite photos showed the strike destroyed a repair hangar and appeared to damage two other buildings. Ukraine said it had shot down two of six missiles in the volley, which came from the Black Sea.

The early morning attack was the closest strike yet to the center of Lviv, which has become a crossroads for people fleeing from other parts of Ukraine and for others entering to deliver aid or join the fight. The war has swelled the city’s population by some 200,000.

Zelenskyy boasted that Ukraine’s defenses have proved much stronger than expected, and Russia “didn’t know what we had for defense or how we prepared to meet the blow.”

But British Chief of Defense Intelligence Lt. Gen. Jim Hockenhull warned that after failing to take major Ukrainian cities, Russian forces are shifting to a “strategy of attrition” that will entail “reckless and indiscriminate use of firepower,” resulting in higher civilian casualties and a worsening humanitarian crisis.

In city after city around Ukraine, hospitals, schools and buildings where people sought safety have been attacked. Rescue workers continued to search for survivors in the ruins of a theater that was being used a shelter when it was blasted by a Russian airstrike Wednesday in Mariupol.

Ludmyla Denisova, the Ukrainian Parliament’s human rights commissioner, said at least 130 people had survived the theater bombing.

“But according to our data, there are still more than 1,300 people in these basements, in this bomb shelter,” Denisova told Ukrainian television. “We pray that they will all be alive, but so far there is no information about them.”

Satellite images on Friday from Maxar Technologies showed a long line of cars leaving Mariupol as people tried to evacuate, as well as devastation to homes, apartment buildings and stores.

Early morning barrages also hit a residential building in the Podil neighborhood of Kyiv, killing at least one person, according to emergency services, who said 98 people were evacuated from the building. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said 19 were wounded in the shelling.

Ukrainian officials said a fireman was killed when Russian forces shelled an area where firefighters were trying to put out a blaze in the village of Nataevka, in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Two others were killed when strikes hit residential and administrative buildings in the eastern city of Kramatorsk, according to the regional governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko.

Maj. Gen. Oleksandr Pavlyuk, who is leading the defense of the region around Ukraine’s capital, said his forces are well-positioned to defend the city and vowed: “We will never give up. We will fight until the end. To the last breath and to the last bullet.”

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Associated Press writer Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, Ukraine, and other AP journalists around the world contributed to this report.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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Entertainment

home across from Kim will bring him ‘solace’

January 14, 2022 Admin Leave a comment

Kanye West is opening up about the all the drama that surfaced when he purchased a home across the street from his estranged wife, Kim Kardashian.

While their divorce has yet to be finalized, Kardashian, 41, filed to be “legally single” last month, stating her marriage is “irretrievably” broken.

A few weeks later, it was revealed that West, 44, purchased a $4.5 million teardown directly adjacent to the home he had designed and built with Kardashian. She bought the home from West in a $23 million buyout.

Now West has confirmed that he needed a home that was close to his children.

“My solace comes from seeing my kids and getting a solid schedule. That’s why I even got the house,” West explained to Hollywood Unlocked’s Jason Lee. “[It was] flipped into there was something wrong with me getting a house next to my kids.”

“You see when my mom took me from Atlanta to Chicago, my dad didn’t come to the coldest and most dangerous city in the world to be next to [me],” West added. “He said, ‘I’m going to stay down in Atlanta.’”

“Nothing with my career, with this rap, with this media, with none of that, that’s gonna keep me from my children. And that’s what I want everybody to know,” he added. “Don’t play with me, don’t play with my children. Ain’t no security gonna get in between me and my children and you ain’t gonna gaslight me.”

A source previously told The Post that it all came down to “logistics” so that he “has access to them at the drop of a hat.”

But Kardashian’s divorce lawyer Laura Wasser told Page Six it was “news to us” that the children were being kept from West.

“Mr. West being kept from the children, by security or anyone else, is news to us,” she said in a statement. “Both parties’ priority has always been the children maintaining strong bonds with each of their parents throughout this transition and beyond.”

Located in the Hidden Hills, the five-bedroom, four-bathroom home is outdated, with shaggy beige carpets and vintage wood paneling.

An aerial view of the home.

Realtor.com

The horse stables at the equestrian ranch that come with the property.

West was lucky with the timing as this was the first time the former owners had put the home and land up for sale in 67 years.

The “Donda” rapper was so desperate for the land, he offered $421,000 more than the seller’s asking price.

West recently shelled out a whopping $57.3 million for an oceanfront Malibu estate.

Meanwhile, West is also hoping to unload one of two of his Wyoming ranches, which he listed for sale for $11 million in October.

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Entertainment

Inside Kanye West’s new $4.5M home across from Kim Kardashian

December 27, 2021 Admin Leave a comment

Two months after Kim Kardashian officially transferred the marital home fully under her name, Kanye West bought a single-story house directly across the street, The Post can confirm.

And apparently, he wanted the modest five-bedroom, four-bathroom house so desperately that he paid $4.5 million — $421,000 over the seller’s asking price.

It also happens to be good timing for the rapper, as the five-bedroom, four-bathroom house in Hidden Hills hit the market for the first time in 67 years on Dec. 1 for $4.079 million, according to the listing.

West, 44, closed on the home on Dec. 20 under the LLC, Spruce Blue Trust, records show.

And although the “Donda” singer has expressed his interest to “get his family back together,” a source told The Post, this house transaction was more for the former couple’s kids.

“It’s just simple logistics so that he is close to his children and has access to them at the drop of a hat,” the insider said.

But it looks like the home will be in need of some upgrades, as it appears to be a far cry from what the Kardashian-West clan are used to.

Inside Kanye West’s new Hidden Hills home bought for $4.5 million, located across the street from Kim Kardashian.

Realtor.com; GC Images

Kim Kardashian’s house and Kanye West’s new house are directly across the street from each other.

A large planted tree sits in front of the home.

The unassuming home spans over 3,600 square feet and is situated on over an acre of land with an equestrian ranch on the property.

The property has shaggy beige carpets with vintage wood paneling and cabinets throughout the home.

Features include a family room with a fireplace and sliding doors that look out over the pool and horse corral. The home also comes with a two-car detached garage with a guest unit that leads along a path to the three-stall barn, the listing states. The barn comes with a tack room and hay storage connected to a large paddock for horses.

The same owners lived in the home ever since the property, which has been well maintained, was built in 1955.

The front lawn was recently replaced with a drought-resistant AstroTurf and the existing kitchen was remodeled in 2005 and includes an island.

The move also comes after West listed one of two of his beloved Wyoming ranches for $11 million. The ranch remains on sale.

In September, West also bought a luxurious modern Malibu estate for a colossal $57.3 million.

Melissa and Jason Improta of Compass held the listing; Tomer Fridman of Compass repped the buyer.

The Dirt was the first to report on the transaction.

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Entertainment

Inside Pete Davidson’s Staten Island condo with Kim Kardashian

December 23, 2021 Admin Leave a comment

It’s a Staten Island love nest.

Pete Davidson, 28, moved out of his mother’s basement and into his own luxury condo, where he’s been cozying up with his latest paramour, Kim Kardashian, 41.

In an exclusive video obtained by Page Six, the divorcée was recently spotted leaving his Staten Island condo through the side door following a weekend of low-key dates.

Kardashian, fresh off her bombshell split from Kanye West, attempted to leave Davidson’s place incognito in a black hat and all-black ensemble as she made her way into an SUV.

Sources told Page Six that Kardashian was at Davidson’s condo throughout their romantic weekend despite her having a room at the Four Seasons Hotel in the Financial District. Following their weekend at his condo, Davidson was also spotted leaving the KKW Beauty founder’s hotel.

The two have been linked together following Kardashian’s appearance on “SNL” in October 2021, when they shared a smooch in character, but were soon after seen holding hands at Knott’s Berry Farm in California.

Page Six revealed that Davidson also treated the reality TV mogul to a private dinner on the roof of Campania on Staten Island, where they were able to enjoy a romantic meal sans security. She then brought Davidson as her plus-one to Simon Huck’s birthday party at Zero Bond.

The unlikely playboy purchased his waterfront condo for $1.2 million in December 2020, The Post can report.

Here’s a look inside, where the sparks have been flying between the odd couple.

The open floor plan combines the main living room with the dining area and kitchen.

Realtor.com

With two bedrooms and two-and-a-half bathrooms, the residence is situated on the water and boasts panoramic views overlooking Manhattan.

The luxury residence features long windows that open onto a terrace.

Davidson got his own place four years after he snagged a $1.3 million Staten Island abode in 2016 for his mom, Amy Waters. Davidson had been living in the basement of the home until December, when he moved into a high-rise.

But the “King of Staten Island” is still remaining close to home — and is proud of it. He’s been showing Kardashian his favorite local haunts, including Angelina’s Ristorante, where they posed for a photo with the owner.

Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson are seen leaving a date night at Angelina’s on Staten Island on Dec. 18, 2021.

The two decided to spend the evening together after the “SNL” live taping was canceled due to COVID spikes.

Davidson purchased the condo on Staten Island through an LLC, property records show.

A rep for Davidson has not yet responded to The Post’s request for comment.

The expansive terrace overlooking the Manhattan skyline.

Another view of the terrace, which has artificial grass and a view of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge.

In the original listing, photos show a Hawaiian-themed bathroom and a purple-painted kitchen.

One of the two bedrooms is pictured with bunkbeds — no word yet on whether the bunks remain in Davidson’s current design.

During a Zoom call posted to TikTok in April, Davidson revealed that he moved out of his mom’s place.

“I just moved out of my mom’s house,” he said as he scrambled for his keys. “I’m fully out. I got a pad.”

A sitting area in the hallway is situated as a bridge between the kitchen and the bathroom.

A closer view of the newly updated kitchen.

Panoramic views of the open water are available from all angles of the home.

According to the listing, the condo is described as a “pinnacle of luxury lifestyle living.”

The home features soaring ceilings, tall windows with an abundance of natural light and a private terrace.

Other features of the home include an open layout plan, a redesigned kitchen with a peninsula seating area, quartz countertops and a unique “waterfall” installation.

The main bedroom has a private door leading to the terrace.

The master suite boasts a bath with a marble vanity, Jacuzzi tub, separate shower and a walk-in closet with a private door to the terrace.

Building amenities include secured doorman entry, a residents’ lounge, fitness center, children’s playground and grilling stations.

The guest bathroom with Hawaiian-printed wallpaper.

Amenities of the high-rise include a pool table and space to host events.

Laird Klein of Sotheby’s International Realty held the listing.

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Business

Zillow Quits Its Homebuying Business as Losses Mount. The Stock Is Plunging.

November 3, 2021 Admin Leave a comment

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Zillow Group stock fell 12% in after-hours trading Tuesday.

Tiffany Hagler-Geard/Bloomberg

Zillow Group

said it would shut down its homebuying and selling business, citing the company’s inability to accurately predict future home prices.

“We’ve determined the unpredictability in forecasting home prices far exceeds what we anticipated and continuing to scale Zillow Offers would result in too much earnings and balance-sheet volatility,” CEO Rich Barton said Tuesday.

“We have been willing to take a really big swing on this, but not a bet the company swing,” the CEO said on an investor call following the announcement in the company’s third-quarter earnings.

Barton also said labor and supply shortages backed up the company’s home-processing pipeline. “We’ve been able to convert only about 10% of the serious sellers who ask for a Zillow Offer, and we have tended to disappoint the roughly 90% who didn’t sell to us,” Barton said.

Zillow still has thousands of homes in its inventory. The company said in its shareholder letter released Tuesday that it purchased 9,680 homes in the latest quarter and sold 3,032 homes. It ended the quarter with 9,790 homes in its inventory and an additional 8,172 homes under contract. That’s a significant increase from the 3,142 homes Zillow had in its inventory at the end of the second quarter.

Zillow plans to shut down the program over several quarters, a spokesperson told Barron’s, noting that the company will process, prepare, and sell homes the way it has historically. The company expects to sell most of its homes by the end of the second quarter of 2022.

The program’s end will result in a 25% reduction in its workforce over the next several quarters, Zillow said. The company said it currently employs around 8,000 people.

For the third quarter, the real estate firm reported revenue of $1.7 billion and an adjusted Ebitda loss of $169 million in the quarter. Analysts had expected sales of about $2 billion and Ebitda of $114 million.

Homes comprised the bulk of Zillow’s sales in the third quarter. The segment contributed $1.2 billion of the company’s total revenue in the quarter, or about 71%.

After closing down 10.2% Tuesday, shares fell another 19% in premarket trading Wednesday.

The Internet, Media, and Technology segment reported adjusted Ebitda of $207 million, while the Mortgages segment reported adjusted Ebitda of $5 million. Its Homes segment, which includes Zillow Offers, reported an Ebitda loss of $381 million. That includes a $304 million write-down of homes bought at a higher price than Zillow expects to sell them, the company said. Analyst estimates had called for a loss of $56 million for the segment.

For the fourth quarter, Zillow expects sales of $2.8 billion at the middle of its outlook and an adjusted Ebidta loss between $136 million and $186 million, according to its shareholder letter.

The company expects a loss of $240 million to $265 million on homes it expects to purchase in the fourth quarter. Zillow also said it would recognize costs associated with the wind-down of Zillow Offers in the fourth quarter that could total between $175 million to $230 million and extend into 2022.

On the call with investors, Zillow CFO Allen Parker said the company ended the quarter with $3.2 billion in cash and investments—“more than sufficient liquidity to weather the impact of home purchases in Zillow Offers in Q4.” He added that ending Zillow Offers allows the company to “invest in more scalable customer solutions that are less capital-intensive.”

The company began testing its homebuying program, Zillow Offers, in 2017. It operated the business in 25 markets, according to listings on Zillow’s website.

Write to Shaina Mishkin at shaina.mishkin@dowjones.com

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Business

Zillow Gets Outplayed at Its Own Game

October 18, 2021 Admin Leave a comment

Zillow, it seems, has over-flipped.

The company that has prided itself on its technology to outsource a lot of human work is suddenly referring the work right back to humans. Zillow Group’s automated home-flipping business has stopped pursuing new home acquisitions temporarily, Bloomberg reported on Sunday. In a statement for this article, a Zillow spokesperson said in an email it is “beyond operational capacity in [its] Zillow Offers business.” Zillow said it is now connecting homeowners looking to sell their home to its local Premier Agent partners.

The pause seems to be a case of poor planning—a surprising lapse for a company that has been in the online real-estate business for nearly 17 years. Rather than a cash issue, Zillow is saying it experienced supply constraints having to do with on-the-ground workers and vendors. Leave it to a technology company to develop an algorithm to predict home values, but mismanage the human aspect of its business.

To add insult to injury, Zillow’s biggest competitor seems to be handling high volumes just fine.

Opendoor Technologies

OPEN 3.20%

said it is “open for business and continues to scale and grow,” noting it has worked hard over the past seven years to ensure it can continue to deliver as it expands. While Zillow long predates Opendoor as a company, it mainly offered an online marketing platform for agents before adding iBuying in 2018.

Zillow said it purchased a record number of homes in the second quarter at 3,805, but that still paled in comparison to the 8,494 homes Opendoor purchased in the same period. It doesn’t seem as though the near-term business has completely flopped: The company says it is continuing to process the purchases of homes from sellers who are already under contract as quickly as possible. That means home purchases could still continue to grow sequentially in the fourth quarter, even with the pause. Zillow hasn’t publicly commented on its fourth-quarter buying forecast, but has said its third-quarter outlook implies a “step up” in purchase activity.

Rather than flip out, iBuying investors may want to look at Zillow’s news as an opportunity for its competitors. Opendoor is now active in 44 markets, including all but two of Zillow’s 25 markets. Zillow’s pause therefore spells a golden opportunity for Opendoor. Zillow hasn’t yet said when it will resume new home purchases, but an email from a Zillow Offers Advisor to an agent seen by the Journal suggests the pause will last through the end of 2021 at the least.

Zillow’s mismanagement also highlights a key strength for smaller competitor

Offerpad Solutions.

OPAD -0.24%

Led by a former real-estate agent, that company has long touted its ground game. Offerpad, which is now a publicly traded company after closing its merger with a special-purpose acquisition company in September, seems to have been ahead of the curve in terms of understanding how many workers to employ and where, which repairs need to get done and how to execute them efficiently. An analysis by BTIG Research shows Offerpad’s contribution profit per home sold was over 4.7 times that of Zillow’s last year.

Opendoor is now active in 44 markets, including all but two of Zillow’s 25 markets.

Photo:

Conor Ralph for The Wall Street Journal

But the news is also a signal that investors may want to start to tread more lightly around what has thus far been a banner year for the sector. The reality is that iBuyers have incredible amounts of market data, can plan acquisitions and inventory months in advance and have a number of levers to pull to slow or accelerate the business, according to Mike DelPrete, a real estate tech strategist and scholar-in-residence at the University of Colorado Boulder. Given that, it is unusual that Zillow’s pause happened so suddenly and across all its markets.

The U.S. real-estate market has finally started to cool a bit. On Friday, Redfin reported the median home sale price rose 14% year-over-year in September—the lowest growth rate since December 2020. Meanwhile, closed home sales and new listings of homes for sale both fell from a year earlier, by 5% and 9% respectively.

Thus far, no other major iBuyer has said it was pausing new acquisitions this year. As Mr. DelPrete notes, it is possible Opendoor and Offerpad began to slow their own buying commitments as the market started to change, while Zillow missed the signs. More likely, Zillow, which has consistently prophesied what it calls the “Great Reshuffling” amid a permanence in remote work, just neglected to do its own reshuffling on the ground.

The U.S. mortgage market involves some key players that play important roles in the process. Here’s what investors should understand and what risks they take when investing in the industry. WSJ’s Telis Demos explains. Photo: Getty Images/Martin Barraud

Write to Laura Forman at laura.forman@wsj.com

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Entertainment

Kim Kardashian gets Kanye West Hidden Hills marital home

October 12, 2021 Admin Leave a comment

A day after Kanye West listed one of his Wyoming ranches, he also said goodbye to the Hidden Hills home he had shared with Kim Kardashian.

New documents filed in the Los Angeles County Court Tuesday show that Kim will get the $60 million house they’d built together.

Sources told TMZ that the estranged couple negotiated a buyout price for the property, on which they had constructed their dream abode from the ground up. They initially purchased the 5,000-square-foot Southern California mansion for $20 million in 2014 before gutting the existing structure, renovating it down to every last nail.

In March, it was revealed that Kim was set to get the home, the design for which had been mostly dreamt up by Kanye, as their divorce proceedings continued amid rumors of a possible reconciliation.

Kim Kardashian inside her master bathroom.

Kim Kardashian/Instagram

A separate source revealed that the couple came to the decision early on to grant Kim the home since it’s where their four kids have grown up and “all they’ve ever known.”

Meanwhile, Kanye spends a lot of time in Wyoming, where he owns two ranches: the one he just put up for sale and a bigger ranch where he wrote “Donda.”

Kim filed for divorce back in February after seven years of marriage.

The main theme of the Hidden Hills dwelling, which took six years to build, is “purity,” with only neutral colors appearing throughout the residence. The former couple had hired Belgian designer and tastemaker Axel Vervoordt, 74, to help realize their vision.

In a 2020 interview with Architectural Digest, Kanye explained his inspiration for the home’s aesthetic derived from a “metamorphosis of the house from suburban McMansion to futuristic Belgian monastery.”

“When I was growing up in Chicago, before the internet, I’d go to my local Barnes & Noble to check out Architectural Digest and other design magazines, along with the fashion and rap titles,” the Yeezy designer said. “My father encouraged me. He always had graph paper around for me to scribble on.”

Kanye West taking David Letterman inside his former closet.

The official filing comes after the “Love Lockdown” singer purchased a $57.3 million oceanfront contemporary Malibu home while simultaneously selling his first Wyoming ranch, which spans more than 3,800 acres.

It is also rumored that West recently closed on an international property — in Belgium.

Court records filed on Tuesday reveal that Kim Kardashian will get the Hidden Hills home she had shared with Kanye West.

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Zillow Gets Outplayed at Its Own Game

Opendoor is now active in 44 markets, including all but two of Zillow’s 25 markets.

Kim Kardashian gets Kanye West Hidden Hills marital home

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