Hit hard by the pandemic, New York City’s real estate market is proving its resilience once again. As the vaccine rollout increasingly allows life to approach normal, buyer appetite has returned with a vengeance. Specifically, 8,343 residential sales closed in Q2 2021 across the city, marking an 88% year-over-year (Y-o-Y) increase compared to the lockdown-depressed figures of Q2 2020. Read more

New York City’s luxury residential market was defined by legislative changes in 2019. In particular, the new progressive mansion tax and the new transfer tax on million-dollar home sales that went into effect on July 1 had a profound impact on the local residential market overall – and especially on the highest-priced segments of the market. Read more

Brownstoner checks in on the price cuts and new additions to our list of the borough’s priciest real estate on the market.

It used to be that cracking the $10,000,000 ceiling for a Brooklyn home was a near-miraculous feat. But more and more listings are asking for luxe prices, perhaps emboldened by photographer Jay Maisel’s record-breaking purchase of a $15,500,000 townhouse on Pacific Street or Jennifer Connelley’s former mansion selling for $12,400,000. Read more

A literal castle is on the market in France, and it can be yours for a mere $3.3 million.

The massive property once belonged to the Rochefoucauld family, according to luxury real-estate agency Patrice Besse, which holds the listing. The Rochefoucaulds are among the oldest and most famous families of the French nobility.

The property, a protected historic monument, “has been in the same family for 1,000 years, and it is like a work of art that has never been on the market,” Patrice Besse, the founding president of the real-estate agency of the same name, told The New York Times. Read more

The 3 top reasons why you should build what you want.

Building a custom luxury home doesn’t have to be complicated but it does have to be real and it does have to involve land. The definition of real actually has the word “genuine” in it; authentic, true and actual. I believe that we have become accustomed to the “average home”. The problem is, they are all the same. You might be able to pick out a few things like your flooring and countertop but it’s not truly “custom”, if you can’t design it exactly how you want. So, commit and then take massive action to create the space that you have always dreamed of. Read more