Manhattan real estate sales set a record in the fourth quarter of 2007, with residential sales averaging out to be $1.4 million (according to data from Prudential Douglas Elliman), an increase of 17.6% over 2006's fourth quarter. However impressive that statistic is, the growth was primarily driven by super high-end sales of at least $10 million. Apparently sales for condos at The Plaza and 15 Central Park West helped drive the average condo sale......

A state office responsible for oversight of the MTA recently conducted a test of the NYC subway system's lost and found department and the results were not encouraging. Investigators turned over 26 items to the New York City Transit employees--both bus and subway workers, including keys, a purse, a Walkman, a watch, a jacket, and an electric shaver. Only three of the items eventually made their way to the Lost & Found office, which is......

Yesterday, the police arrested the personal assistant to "broker to the stars" Linda Stein in connection with Stein's October 30 murder. Stein, who had also managed the Ramones and later parlayed her connections to sell real estate to celebrities, had been found bludgeoned to death in her Fifth Avenue apartment by her daughter. The police revealed that assistant Natavia Lowery confessed to them that Stein's abuse pushed her over the edge. Police Commissioner Ray......

Sure, there are worries about the credit market and subprime mortgage situation, but real estate brokerages around the city are basking in good news: Third-quarter Manhattan apartment closings were at the highest average price ever and home inventory tightened as well. The average price for a Manhattan apartment was $1.37 million and the average price for a condo is $1.6 million, with the different brokerage saying that it's anywhere from 16-38% higher than the previous......

No, seriously-- check this photo I'm Not Saying just sent in: This is the Northside Piers project at Kent and 5th. DEVELOPING. Update: BNN reports-- "164 KENT AVE & NORTH 5TH ST| ALL FIRE HAS BEEN XTGH'ED, PRIMARY SEARCH ON THE TOP FLOOR(S) IS (-)" That's good news-- especially if you bought an apartment in the building! Update: Mihow has another angle-- check out that billowing smoke! Update: I'm Not Saying has put up a......

City Council member Gale Brewer criticized the Taxi and Limousine Commission's disorganized lost and found process and urged the TLC to make some changes. Brewer said, "A New Yorker misfortunate enough to lose her property in a taxi is more likely to find overwhelmed hotlines and contradictory instructions than she is to recover her missing possession. The TLC procedure is rarely followed and is hopeless without a receipt. The TLC’s system does not work, if......

Distributer of royalties, BMI, filed a federal lawsuit against Jay-Z's 40/40 Club yesterday. The performing right organization holds the licensing rights to 6.5 million songs, and apparently plenty of them are being played at the club, the lawsuit cites "unauthorized public performance of musical compositions." In other words, Jay-Z has been holding out and skimping on royalties owed to fellow musicians! The Post reports that Michael Jackson, R. Kelly and over a dozen music publishers......

A staple of urban difficulties are the financial and personal reviews of aspiring co-op buyers. The board review process before a purchase can be approved can be Torquemada-esque, where future hopeful neighbors are one's inquisitors. We wrote about the process last month and how lawmakers want to require co-op boards to provide specific reasons why some applicants are rejected from living in a building. The traditional alternative to the co-op review process for buyers of......

We knew holiday tips were trouble! The former doorman to a Sutton Place apartment building on East 52nd Street is suing his former employers for $2 million. Viorel Cincu says that he was unfairly fired after 17 years of service, after a videotape showed him allegedly stealing a colleague's $400 tip. In December 2005, residents Raffi and Stephanie Asadorian left a $400 (!) holiday tip for their baby-sitter at the front door. Apparently they had......

The Apple computer company loves its self-same-named metropolis. Word on the street is that its London store will be eclipsed in size by a new emporium being planned for the Meatpacking District at 401 W 14th St. Because our rendered concept graphic is a bit rough, even for the meatpacking district, we will direct you to AppleInsider, where they've got their polishing down to a science. "More important, however, is the sheer scope of the......

City Councilman Hiram Monserratte is the prime sponsor of a bill that would require co-op boards to explain why applicants were rejected when they deny a person's request to buy into a building. The secrecy behind the approval/refusal process by many co-op boards has generated long-held suspicions that the whole ordeal is simply a way to quietly discriminate against "undesirable" applicants. Now nearly two-thirds of the members of the City Council are co-sponsoring a measure......

If it's April, it's time to get quarterly real estate data. The NY Times reports that the "prices and number of apartments selling in Manhattan rose" during the beginning of the year. Brown Harris Stevens and Halstead Property say sales were up 12% versus 2006's 4th quarter. And in an amusing example of how different data can be, BHS and HP say prices rose 6%, but Prudential Douglas Elliman says prices rose 5.4% and......

There are toxic plots of land all over New York City, hello Greenpoint, but Queens Crap has some maps showing the toxic parts of Queens. The maps they show are from Property Shark, but they also link to a site where you can see maps for all the neighborhoods of Queens. If you want to check out how toxic your neighborhood is, head over to this Property Shark map and click "Toxic Sites" in......

Brooklyn Industries is opening an art gallery in Williamsburg, on the site of their old retail location on Broadway and Driggs. Oh no! Eric Brown has reached the shark-jumping point of his internet celebrity-- posing drunk and surly at a K-Y Jelly party. Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: gas leak on East 4th Street, suspicious package on the Upper West Side, and two missing kids in Harlem. Who doesn't love a classic New York......

In a few hours, Mayor Bloomberg will give his annual State of the City address. But the cat is out of the bag, as everyone is abuzz about how he will be discussing a $1 billion tax cut. Property taxes will be reduced, the city's 4% tax on clothing and shoes over $110 would be eliminated (you would still pay the state (and MTA)'s 4.375% sales tax), and small businesses would get tax breaks, too.......

Six years can bring more than a 300% return (or clear 200% of your initial investment in pure profit)! The NY Times reports that Tishman-Speyer sold 666 Fifth Avenue to the Kushner family for $1.8 billion. And reporter Charles Bagli points out Tishman-Speyer bought the property for $518 million. Many people that this will be the most expensive single building in the city, breaking Tishman-Speyer's then-record $1.72 billion purchase of the MetLife Building. Factoids:......

It's possibly the most famous couple to sue over bed bugs: Saturday Night Live star Maya Rudolph and auteur Paul Thomas Anderson claim that their SoHo rental was infested with the vermin and are now suing Halstead Property and the owner, Francis Feeney! They were paying $13,500/month for a Greene Street loft (plus two months' rent, security deposit, broker's fee), but found themselves (and their baby!) bitten. Ew. The exterminator told them they would have......

After Scott Fappiano was freed last week, after being in falsely imprisoned for 21 years (he was mistakenly convicted of raping a police officer's wife in their Brooklyn home), more questions are being raised about the way police evidence is stored/a>. Thought Fappiano had requested a pair of sweatpants be tested for DNA evidence in 1989, the technology back then wasn't able to read the small sample - and then the pants and sample were......

We're so confused by all the stories on the city's housing market. AP: Manhattan Residential Market Cools Daily News: Manhattan apartment prices slip in latest quarters - But numbers up 12% from '05 NY Post: NY CRA$H PADS - MANHATTAN APT. PRICES PLUNGING USA TODAY: Manhattan: Except for 'very high-end' housing, 'market is quiet' NY Times: Buying in Manhattan? Apartment Prices Steady It seems that prices are dropping, apartments aren't being snapped up as quickly,......

-- Some timely advice: always look both ways before you backflip! -- Improv Everywhere goes to Yankee Stadium and hilarity ensues. -- Yeshiva University gets $100m worth of gelt right before the holidays. -- Have you ever wondered who reads the Post? Now you know. -- Who says the real estate market is imploding? These douches are asking for 40% more than they paid SIX MONTHS AGO! -- Speaking of real estate douchebaggery, Property......

Both the Observer and the NY Sun look at the slow development process for the Moynihan Station, a project long discussed but stuck in development hell. We think the Observer's sub-headline says it all: "Silver Stops Projects, And There’s Not Much Putzy Governor Can Do; Gargano in Full Gear; Snarled by Property Shuffle With Vornado and Related." To translate: Assembly Leader Sheldon Silver is delaying the project, and since Governor Pataki is a lame duck,......

More and more questions are being asked about the circumstances of Staten Island resident Hejin Han's suicide plunge in a minivan at Bear Mountain. Han's husband Victor, who watched as the van fell with their two young daughters in the back, had been charged with promoting suicide, two counts of reckless endangerment and two counts of endangering a child (both daughters managed to survive, as they were wearing their seatbelts). He was granted bail by......

A pair of homeless man have been arrested for starting the fire that caused the NYC's biggest blaze (this side of the World Trade Center). Leszek Kuczera, a 59 year old Polish immigrant, and another as-yet unapprehended homeless man were attempting to burn the insulation off copper wire by setting eight tires on fire, but the fire got out of control. Kuczera was arrested and charged with arson, buglary, reckless endangerment and petty larceny;......

Sean from NYC Exposed sent in a link to this gallery of subway tunnel shots-- along with a note: "I revisited 2nd ave." Could this be the fabled section of the Second Avenue line that actually got built? If anyone is going to get down there, it's NYC Exposed-- they've got one of the best collections of subway/tunnel pictures we've seen so far. Related: Curbed notes that Property Shark has added the Second Avenue......

Last night we were doing the usual: wandering around looking for one-story buildings for our amateur photography project. Sadly, we chose to hunt for our prey in the West Village, which has a dearth of short structures. If only we had consulted Property Shark before setting out! If you select their "stories on lot" overlay, it tells you how tall each building is-- and two seconds of inspection shows the lowest neighborhoods are Red......

You've got to keep your on those wicked scamps over at Property Shark! When their not adding insane data layers to their property map, they are cooking up crazy demographic overlays. For instance, we just noticed that one of their overlays is "Single Men in NYC." The hot areas for high guy percentages: Chinatown, the West Side, Red Hook, and Gowanus, Throgs Neck, and North Shore of Staten Island. Who knew?!......

We've been eagerly anticipating the beta launch of Zillow for weeks now-- rumors surrounded the project. Some of that had to do with the founder, Richard Barton; his previous project was Expedia, and many people expected Zillow to be similarly ground-breaking. The beta is fairly impressive: enter an address, and Zillow returns a list of sale prices for properties in the area. They also provide analysis of sale prices on a state or county......

This is pretty amazing: Property Shark has added pictures of every building in Manhattan to their maps page. Instructions via their press release: To find photos using our map, go to our maps, click on Manhattan and then keep clicking. Each time you click, you'll zoom in. Then, when you get to the lowest zoom level and can't zoom any more, if you click on a building you'll bring up the photo of the......

In this bit of non-transit-strike MTA news, Gothamist must say we are LOVING the new sign to remind people to check their Lost Property Unit for their lost items. And, if we take the sign and its charming clip art to heart, the MTA thinks you will be losing your: - Cobra (yes, an actual snake) - Prosthetic leg - Computer mouse - Dentures - Big-ass boom box - Crutch - 'cause you wouldn't......

Excuse us while we geek out on you for a second. So the office of Comptroller Thompson released it's annual claims report for the 2004 fiscal year yesterday and it is chock full o' fun numbers which will be feeding news story statistics for the next year. When looking at them the Daily News focused on the $68.2 million a year the city spent paying off sidewalk slip and fall claims in 2004. That's......