The too-high cost for homebuying, the effects of plumbing mishaps on household budgets, and an XL-sized lease in New York City’s office market. From the wild and wooly world of real estate, here are our Hits and Misses for the week of April 28-May 2.
Miss: A Dent to the Wallet. One of the most depressing data studies this week came from Realtor.com, which found that American households need to earn $114,000 annually to afford a median-priced home. Since pre-pandemic 2019, the income required to afford the median-priced home has jumped 70.1% from $67,000. Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com, tried to accentuate the positive by observing, “Sellers are becoming more flexible on pricing, underscored by the price reductions we’re seeing, and while higher mortgage rates are certainly weighing on demand, the silver lining is that the market is starting to rebalance. This could create opportunities for buyers who are prepared.” Let’s hope so – prices are still excessively elevated in too many markets.
Miss: A Plumbing We Will Go. Another depressing data report this week came from Guardian Service, which found American homeowners, on average, pay $671 out of pocket for emergency sewer repairs, with one in 12 spending over $2,000. The report also found one in six homeowners are currently delaying a plumbing repair due to cost, while nearly one in 10 homeowners admitted they will not be able to afford an unexpected $500 plumbing repair today. However, a lot of this drain-based drama is the fault of the homeowner – the report found two in three homeowners had plumbing issues due to something inappropriate that was flushed or poured down the drain, including female hygiene products, leftover food and cooking grease or oil. Oh well, whatever money those people thought they were saving on garbage bags went into the plumbers’ bank accounts.
Miss: Crime Does Not Pay, Part 2. The year isn’t even half over, but we already have a prime candidate for the 2025’s dumbest crook: Londa Neal of Nebraska, who went to prison in 2023 for forging a quit claim deed on a property and attempted to sell it without the knowledge of the elderly homeowner. Neal was paroled in March and, incredibly, her first action once gaining her freedom was to commit deed theft and try to sell the same property again, this time to a buyer from Alabama. The elderly homeowner told authorities this new attempted sale was made without her knowledge, just as the first phony sale was attempted without her input. Neal was arraigned on the charges of 2nd Degree Forgery, Abuse of a Vulnerable Adult, and Attempted Theft by Taking. Well, if anything, she is consistent.
Miss: A Little Too Obsessive? When New York Gov. Kathy Hochul was asked if she would object if Penn Station was renamed “Trump Station” after the president had the federal government take over the renovation of the Manhattan transit hub, she flippantly remarked she was fine with the name switch if the White House could complete the long-delayed and over-budget effort. But that blithe remark sparked outrage from State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, a Manhattan Democrat who floated the idea of proposing new legislation that prohibits public buildings from being named after convicted felons. Of course, that would mean changing the name of the city’s Nelson Mandela School for Social Justice – yes, the South African leader was a convicted felon under the apartheid government. Trump hasn’t called for Penn Station to be named in his honor, which makes Hoylman-Sigal the latest Democratic lawmaker who goes into high-profile convulsions whenever the Trump name is mentioned.
Hit: Long Overdue Reform. This week, the GOP-led House Financial Services Committee voted 32-20 along party lines to make significant changes to the funding structure for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Among the most dramatic change involves the amount of money it receives form the Federal Reserve – there is a cap set at 12% of the central bank’s total operating expenses, but the new proposals would reduce that to 5%. Another change would transfer “excess amounts” from the CFPB’s Civil Penalty Fund to the Treasury Department’s general fund. Due to the current power structure and priority focus in Washington, it is unlikely that these proposals will be approved by both chambers in this session of Congress. Nonetheless, it is a first major step in bringing much-needed reforms to an agency that has strayed far from its original goals.
Hit: A Major Office Lease. New York City’s office market was reanimated this week when Deloitte announced it would lease nearly three-quarters of a planned skyscraper. The Wall Street Journal reports the accounting giant will take over 800,000 square feet of a 1.1 million-square-foot tower known as 70 Hudson Yards – the new space will also become the company’s North American headquarters. The groundbreaking on the new tower is slated for next month, and the structure – rising over 60 floors – will be the largest ground-up office development in the nation to begin construction since the Covid-19 pandemic. Kudos to the developer Related Cos. for snagging such an important client.
Phil Hall is the editor of Weekly Real Estate News. He can be reached at [email protected].
Photo by Janusz Wozniczak / Getty Images
