“Zero! Zero! Shame! Shame!” tenant advocates screamed, drowning out speeches given by board members.

The increases are slightly smaller than last year’s hikes of 4.25% for one-year leases and 7.25% for two-year leases.

Both tenants and landlords were unhappy with the decision, and Board Chairman Marvin Markus admitted the process was flawed because it doesn’t help the poorest tenants or the most cash-strapped landlords.

The board approved the hikes by a 5-to-4 vote. Tenant representatives, who wanted smaller or no increases, voted against it. Landlord representatives, who wanted increases of 5% and 9%, also voted against it.

“It gets harder and harder,” said tenant Gloria Horlick, 77, who lives in a rent-stabilized apartment in Rego Park, Queens, with her husband.

But Joe Strasburg of the Rent Stabilization Association, which represents property owners, said a 3% increase will not cover the rising costs for landlords.

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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.

A lot of these creative solutions are illegal, and some for good reason. Overcrowding is a fire hazard. Building extra walls and turning offices into living spaces reduces owners’ property values. Many landlords now are having to sue their tenants, not for truly irresponsible acts like failure to pay rent, but for the “crime�? of squeezing into spaces that weren’t meant for them to live in.

New York City shouldn’t be turning its bright young people into criminals, or, even worse, discouraging them from coming here. We want the best and brightest to study at NYU and Columbia. We want them to come to the city to be actors and teachers and musicians and foundation officers and graphic designers and entrepreneurs. If only bankers and lawyers can afford to live here, the city will lose the dynamism and excitement that made it possible for the bankers and lawyers to be here in the first place.

What’s to be done? Clearly, we need to build much more affordable housing. But there’s another piece of the puzzle, too: making it easier to find the housing that’s already here. If you need an airplane ticket, you can log onto Orbitz and easily find every seat on every plane that’s headed where you want to go. But there’s no equivalent database for rental apartments. New York City brokers and landlords haven’t been willing to cooperate in the same way that the airlines have, and (not coincidentally) state regulations have made it difficult or impossible for any single company to create a complete rental database.

Isn’t it time for this situation to change? We owe it to our young people and the future of our city.

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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.

Miller Samuel Inc., a residential appraisal company that prepared the quarterly report for Prudential Douglas Elliman, reported that the average sales price for Manhattan co-op and condos in the fourth quarter grew 3.2 percent compared to fourth-quarter 2005 and the median sale price was up 5.1 percent.

Meanwhile, the average price per square foot declined 0.4 percent, days on market from the last list date increased 9.1 percent and the listing inventory shrank 0.5 percent when compared to the same quarter last year. The report is based on data from 2,441 sales in the fourth quarter.

The average sale price of co-ops grew 2.7 percent in the fourth quarter compared to fourth-quarter 2005 and the median sale price was flat. The average price per square foot fell 4 percent and days on market increased 6 percent compared to fourth-quarter 2005, Miller Samuel also reported.

The average sale price of Manhattan condos rose 7.5 percent; the median sale price was up 14.4 percent; the average price per square foot was up 6.5 percent; sales grew 36.1 percent; and days on market increased 14.9 percent compared to fourth-quarter 2005, according to the report.

The average sale price of Manhattan condos increased 52.3 percent among three-bedroom condos but dropped 26.6 percent among condos with four or more bedrooms in the fourth quarter compared to the same quarter last year — there were price increases between 4.2 percent and 7.2 percent for condos with fewer bedrooms.

The average sale price of lofts rose 11.9 percent while the median sale price dropped 5.4 percent in the fourth quarter compared to fourth-quarter 2005, according to the report. The average price per square foot grew 15.8 percent and the days on market from last list date rose 19.8 percent for lofts compared to the same quarter last year.

The price per square foot paid for co-ops and condos flew up 19.7 percent in the fourth quarter compared to fourth-quarter 2005 in Manhattan’s Uptown area, while climbing 4.2 percent in the downtown area, and falling 3.1 percent in the east area and 1.1 percent in the west area of Manhattan.

Dottie Herman, Prudential Douglas Elliman

Dottie Herman, CEO of Prudential Douglas Elliman, said the company had a better year in 2006 than in 2005. “All of the arrows are up as far as New York City goes. It’s a balanced market — it’s not overheated. It’s healthy and it’s strong. For me it was a better year, despite everything everybody was saying.”

While some real estate markets in other parts of the country had a rough year in 2006, Herman said, “I think New York City never had that experience.” There are still bidding wars for some properties in New York, she said, though not for every property. Herman also said she expects 2007 will be another good year for New York real estate, as interest rates are still relatively low.

The report by Brown Harris Stevens noted that the median price for Manhattan apartments reached a record-high $760,000 in the fourth quarter, up 9 percent compared to fourth-quarter 2005, while the average price rose 5 percent to $1.14 million.

The Brown Harris Stevens report also noted “sharp increases” in the prices for larger apartments. The average sale price of Manhattan co-ops jumped 58.9 percent, from $3.89 million in fourth-quarter 2005 to $6.18 million in fourth-quarter 2006. Meanwhile, that report showed lesser price increases for other co-op sizes and a 2 percent drop in the average price of two-bedroom co-ops.

The average sale price of condos fell slightly from $1.33 million in fourth-quarter 2005 to $1.32 million in fourth-quarter 2006, while the average sale price and average price per square foot dropped slightly for two-bedroom condos and rose for other condo sizes, according to the report.

Halstead Property, in its fourth-quarter report, notes that number of new studio listings grew 63 percent in the downtown area from fourth-quarter 2005 to fourth-quarter 2006 while shrinking 29 percent in the West Side area of Manhattan. The number of new listings of properties with four or more bedrooms climbed 37 percent in the West Side area and fell 19 percent in the East Side area from fourth-quarter 2005 to fourth-quarter 2006, according to data provided by ValuExchange in the Halstead report.

Economist Gregory Heym prepared the Halstead and Brown Harris Stevens reports.

In a separate report, The Corcoran Group reported an overall average sale price increase of 8 percent, a median sale price increase of 11 percent, and a rise in price per square foot of 8 percent for Manhattan condos and co-ops in the fourth quarter of 2006 compared to fourth-quarter 2005. And for Brooklyn, the average sale price and median sale price increased 10 percent in 2006 compared to 2005.

Corcoran’s Manhattan data is based on 2,406 deals, with data collected by the company and by real estate appraisal company Mitchell, Maxwell & Jackson.

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