By Lisa Colangelo
New York Daily News
After a loud, raucous meeting punctuated by the chants of angry tenants, the Rent Guidelines Board last night approved hikes of 3% for one-year leases and 5.75% for two-year leases on the city’s 1 million rent-stabilized apartments.

“Zero! Zero! Shame! Shame!” tenant advocates screamed, drowning out speeches given by board members.
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The New York Times ran an article last week about the plight of college students and young professionals trying to find places to live in Manhattan. Rents are higher than ever and vacancy rates are the lowest in years, but the city retains its irresistible allure for bright, ambitious young people from all over the world. “There’s still enough of a cachet,�? as one real estate economist puts it.

When it comes to securing housing, young people are coping as creatively as they always have. They’re crowding more roommates into their apartments and putting up extra walls for privacy. Some of them are even camping out in unused or underused office spaces. Maybe they’re even enjoying the adventures now — getting ready for work or preparing meals in overcrowded apartments — but the situation poses real problems.
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By Glenn Roberts
Inman News

Manhattan residential real estate prices climbed overall in the fourth quarter compared to the same quarter last year, several major brokerage companies reported this week. Halstead Property, Brown Harris Stevens, The Corcoran Group and Prudential Douglas Elliman released reports detailing condo and co-op sales and pricing activity for the fourth quarter.

The sales data used by some companies was in some cases skewed higher in the fourth quarter when compared to fourth-quarter 2005 because of a new source of public data on co-op sales that became available earlier this year.
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