Just read The Condominium V. Cooperative Puzzle: An Empirical Analysis of Housing in New York City by Shill.

It is a fascinating read. For instance, did you know:

“In 1976, there were 1,039,000 owner-occupied cooperative and condominium apartments in the nation, 106,000 of which were located in New York City. Thus, roughly one out of ten such apartments in the nation were located in New York. By 1999, the number of owner-occupied condominium and cooperative apartments in the nation had ballooned to 3,395,000 in the United States and 255,000 in New York City.”

The results of this study should also be of much interest to NYC apartment buyers currently in the market. Essentially if all variables are normalized – a NYC condo is 8.8 more valuable than a NYC co-op apartment.

Further, this valuation varies dependent upon the financing restrictions/conditions of the purchase but the favorable advantage of condo value continues to grow under all conditions as well as over time.

The answer to the puzzle proposed by Michael Shill – why do co-ops persist when nyc condos deliver higher returns on investment is one of cost. Profits gained from conversion of a coop building to condo property are reigned in by the high cost of conversion and most of the financial gain that tenants might see is lost. This cost does not include the capital gains that would be added to the upcoming tax season so net profit from such a conversion would be even more mitigated by cost.

Given that this data was taken during the early part of the last decade a follow up study is in order to determine what has changed for NYC Condos and Coop properties since the financial collapse of the recent years.

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When properties don’t sell after a few months, the usual conclusion is that something was inadequate about the marketing of the property. Not true. The sale of a Manhattan coop or condo is more a function of the season, the pricing and luck as to whether that one buyer happens to be in the market at that time.

On Long Island, Competing Brokers Become Comrades – NYTimes.com.

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Are New York City apartment owners going to be fetching their own packages and manning their own elevators?

Unionized Doormen Could Strike – Gothamist.

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NYC luxury condo buyers will be pleased to note that mortgage rates for jumbo loans (more than $729,750), are coming down. For borrowers with a 20% down payment, the average rate for a 30-year fixed jumbo loan is 5.125 percent.

Mortgages – Lenders Loosen Reins on Jumbo Mortgages – NYTimes.com.

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Born last July, and adopted last October, my Bella and Pippa love to eat — and, I must confess, they spend quite a bit of time on the kitchen counter of my NYC apartment. Since our Sponsor forget to install utensil drawers, we’ve been using a temporary Elfa wire drawers. Bella climbs the Elfa drawers like a marine, then prowls the counters for yummy morsels. Recently, she’s taken to stepping into the deep kitchen sink to scavenge for tidbits. This video will be a useful reminder to her to lay off the snacks!

Fat Cat Can’t Jump on Counter.

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