Bubble Wrap: October 2009

Property Taxes in NJ an issue as always

Come election season, it’s no surprise that a lot of controversy and debate has been raised with regards to New Jersey’s high property taxes, the highest of any state in the country. Bloomberg reports on the different policies on the issue by the two primary candidates, Incumbent Jon Corzine or his Republican challenger Christopher Christie. Meanwhile, attorney and property tax expert David Wolfe reports to the Star Ledger about the challenges with the state property taxes as a whole and whether reform will actually come.

“I think we’ll have some systematic change, but I don’t know that it will have a dramatic impact on the property tax burden. It will be difficult to achieve real change and success.

In New Jersey, we fund our schools through the local property tax. If we reduce the property tax burden, the funds will have to come from somewhere else. Ultimately, I think the taxpayers will demand some sort of reach change.”

Sharp Drop in Building Residences in the City

The Times writes about the huge drop in new construction with both the residential and commercial sectors as reported by the New York Building Congress. The report contends that the downturn may have bottomed out, while some industry experts are more pessimistic. There are currently only 2 commercial buildings under construction and housing has dropped from 30,000 units per year to about 6,300 this year.

The residential market is more bleak. More than 460 residential projects have been delayed, nearly a third of them in Brooklyn, according to the latest figures from the city’s Buildings Department. Many analysts say it will take several years for the market to absorb all the luxury apartments that have been built recently.

Hamptons market report shows mixed bag

The Real Deal reports on the 3rd Quarter 2009 Homes Sales Report from Town & Country Real Estate. Amongst the findings is that volume of sales in the Hamptons has dropped only 2.5% from the previous year, from 257 to 251 transactions.

Five of the 11 East End markets analyzed in the report (all on the South Fork but for Shelter Island), Amagansett, Bridgehampton and East Hampton Village, Shelter Island and Westhampton, saw an increase in sales, with East Hampton Village showing the steepest climb in sales volume at 169 percent.

Three Cents Worth: Moving Sideways?

Jonathan Miller charts inventory and inflation-adjusted median sales price for Curbed, noticing better stats than previous quarters.

The combination of these metrics suggest that things are not deteriorating as quickly as they had been since the 9/15/08 Lehman tipping point, but it still doesn’t show that we have found some sort of bottom for the Manhattan housing market. With high unemployment, shadow inventory and tight credit, I would think we have a while to go before things stabilize. Still, it’s better news than we have received as of late and I’ll take it.