New NY State License Plate Revealed—And Required On All Cars
Cops: Fort Greene Violence Sparked By Chicken Wing Promotion
The UWS Gets Its Very Own Apple Store
64 Things Restaurant Patrons Must NEVER Do
Access-A-Ride Renders Bike Lane Inaccessible
New York City's Department of Finance is projecting that real estate values in the city will remain nearly flat this fiscal (ending September) year. More precisely, it expects only a 1.4% increase in property values, versus an 18% climb this past year.
It will be the slowest increment of growth since Mayor Bloomberg took office in 2002, during a real estate boom that enabled budget surpluses, tax cuts, and astounding growth in city spending. The surge in city revenue had been fueled by taxes on real estate transactions, but recently Mayor Bloomberg called for across the board belt-tightening at all city agencies back in September, acknowledging that a slowdown in Wall St. or the real estate market could badly impact New York's budget.
In a stark demonstration of how bad the real estate market is--nationwide and not just in NYC--Citigroup posted a fourth-quarter loss of $9.8 billion for 2007 and wrote down $22.2 billion in bad loans and mortgage-backed investments. The company is expected to cut costs by slashing approximately 4,000 jobs soon, with possibly thousands more layoffs in coming months. This week, Citigroup was forced to raise $12.5 billion in new capital by selling ownership stakes to investors including Singapore's Government Investment Corporation, among others.
And despite repeated assurances that it would not be cutting dividends, Citigroup, decided that it had to reduce payouts to shareholders by 41%, which further drained confidence in the company. On that news, the market continued its January decline on fears of more bad news from financial institutions, fuel costs, and concerns that retailers would bear the brunt of a downturn in consumer confidence.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
But all the brokers told me that Manhattan will NEVER fall and guaranteed a double digit % growth every year? Could they be lying?
Great, so real estate values will stabilize. Will my landlord still find a way to jack up my rent by 10% next year?
Of course, his energy costs for the building will still be skyrocketing. Welcome to stagflation.
The day of financial reckoning is near.
This is good for prospective homeowners, however...since they control how much they're going to use for energy. Let the plummet go on, I say. I want get a house! :/
I wonder what will happen to rents if the college hiring season by the banks is low and coincides with large layoffs.
If I were a shareholder in Citigroup I would try to throw out the entire board. How much did Chuck Prince walk away with for essentially driving the bank in to the ground? I almost have more respect for Enron. Those guys were crooks. Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, Bear Stearns, etc. thought they were being really smart.
I guess it's time for Americans to immigrate to countries that are better off. Oh, the irony! Housing is pretty darn cheap in Montreal and I heard they pay pretty well too.