Matrix Blog

New York City

Urban Digs Webinar: Valuing Outdoor Space

October 3, 2023 | 5:53 pm | Explainer |

This webinar was held during the previous week with several hundred people in attendance – I didn’t get the recording soon enough to post last Friday.

Noah and John at Urban Digs invited me to talk about my approach to valuing outdoor space in NYC. I documented my approach to its valuation back on May 5, 2010 on my Matrix blog, after years of getting calls from real estate agents asking how to value them, this post was born: [Terra Logic] Understanding The Value of Manhattan Apartment Outdoor Space. For other “How to” valuation discussions, please go here: “How to Value” and Other Favorite Posts

The outdoor space amenity goes for quite a premium, and its relationship has changed over the years, but my methodology remains sound. Urban Digs approaches it differently, but it comes out the same in the wash. I love these guys.


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WCBS Radio – State Of Commercial Office, City v. Suburbs

June 28, 2023 | 4:17 pm | Radio |

I had a nice conversation with Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso on WCBS Newsradio 880 on the state of the NYC commercial office market. It was a macro-level conversation that I thought you might find helpful.


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Wall Street Bonuses Fall To Pre-Pandemic Levels

April 1, 2023 | 12:26 pm | Explainer |

The Office of the New York State Comptroller released its analysis of Wall Street Bonuses for 2022 last week.

The real estate industry used to go gaga over this report before the housing bubble. But now, with so many bonuses received as deferred compensation or in a non-cash format, the Manhattan housing market no longer sees an immediate surge in demand when bonuses are announced. However, securities industry jobs seemed relatively unphased by the pandemic and the economic surge in the aftermath of the lockdown.

Wall Street’s 2022 average bonus paid to securities employees dropped to $176,700, a 26% decline from the previous year’s $240,400, according to New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli’s annual estimate. Rising interest rates and fear of a recession led to fewer profits on Wall Street after a record haul in 2021.

I update my yearly chart series that breaks out the annual bonus results. Most notable here is the slightly diminished reliance on the securities sector, as noted by the declining salary multiplier to the private sector since the peak in 2007 and the smaller share of securities industry employment to total employment. It’s not in the chart, but the slightly lower contribution of the securities industry with its much higher-paying jobs has been partially offset by the influx of the tech sector, which pays higher wages than the overall private sector.

These chart colors are obnoxious, but their story is still easy to read.

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Elliman Magazine Column “Market Update” – New Inventory Is Falling

December 8, 2022 | 2:12 pm | |

I write a column for Elliman Magazine called “Market Update” that presents a chart and context around it. Its kind of like my nine-year column “Three Cents Worth” at the old Curbed but more grown-up and without the snark.


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My Interview on Crosstown with Pat Kiernan – What can we do about NYC’s housing crisis?

November 13, 2022 | 8:53 pm | Explainer |

I’m a big fan of Pat Kiernan, the star anchor for Spectrum News NY1. I especially like his “in the papers” spots and I’ve been on his morning show a few times. He interviewed me virtually to set the stage to describe NYC’s housing challenge.

Check it out!

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Listing Inventory Trends In The Time Of COVID

December 2, 2021 | 2:49 pm | | Charts |

The Winter 2022 issue of Elliman Magazine was published this week and it is quite a beautiful publication. I created a chart for the publication which compares month listing inventory trends across a number of the markets we cover for Douglas Elliman.


[click to expand image]

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NYC Metro Conditions Much More Robust Than Two Years Ago

August 20, 2021 | 12:56 pm | Infographics |

One of the problems with my normally preferred year-over-year comparisons with metrics to diffuse seasonal impact is that the year-ago period happened to be the pandemic lockdown.

I went through the region using our market report series for Douglas Elliman, comparing the same period two years ago to capture the pre-COV ID market and prices. and sales are up with the exception of Manhattan and North Fork. Listing inventory is up slightly within the city boroughs and plunged in the suburbs.

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[WNBC] The State of New York Real Estate

May 18, 2021 | 9:55 am | | TV, Videos |

Adam Kuperstein at WNBC reached out to do a story on the state of the Manhattan housing market for Douglas Elliman. He got all the nuances right and featured the results of our market research. It was my first tv interview back in my Manhattan office and afterwards I realized I need to warm up my background after using my home office for the past 14 months!


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I Discuss The Florida-New York Housing SMACKDOWN On Bloomberg TV’s Surveillance March 12, 2021

March 17, 2021 | 1:08 pm | | TV, Videos |

Last Friday I had a fun discussion with Lisa Abramowicz on Bloomberg Surveillance. It’s been bedlam in Appraiserville so I’ve been slow to post it. The New York to Florida housing migration story has been a bit one sided with optics that suggest 9 people will be left in Manhattan by the summer time despite that Manhattan contract activity beginning to surge. On the other hand Florida sales activity continues to be frenzied.

I don’t have the short clip so you have to go to the end of the full show at the 2:10:50 minute mark to pick up my interview with Lisa (but I think its worth it):


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Peak Suburb Has Passed

December 28, 2020 | 2:22 pm | | Explainer |

The New York Times got the market nuances right in their epic end of year The Real Estate Collapse of 2020.

And including epic charts makes it even better.


I noticed that the Streeteasy median rent chart used in the piece shows the same pattern as my recent chart in Bloomberg. That drop in rent is gigantic.



[Source: Bloomberg – click image to open article]

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TRD Quick Question: Jonathan Miller “What’s Happening in the NYC Real Estate Market?”

December 28, 2020 | 1:51 pm | | Explainer |

I recently completed a quick interview with Stuart Elliott, Editor In Chief & CEO at The Real Deal who asked me questions with a uniquely mellow intensity. The Real Deal is required reading for anyone in the real estate profession or interested in real estate. Fun.





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NYT Real Estate: Signs of a Manhattan Rental Market Recovery

November 21, 2020 | 12:49 pm | | Charts |

This weekend’s New York Times Real Estate Calculator column provides a visualization of the recent rental market results in The Elliman Report: October 2020 Manhattan, Brooklyn & Queens Rentals

The Manhattan changes were the most interesting to me – record highs set for the vacancy rate, concession market share, concession amount, yoy% change in median net effective rent overall, studio, 1-bed, & 2-beds. Yet we saw for the first time in fourteen months, a jump in YOY% new lease signings and the highest October new lease signing total on record.

The significantly weaker rental market final hit a point that caused demand to begin to flood back into the market.


[click to open article]

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