Am Trust Title Insurance holds fourth annual summit on July 24th

New York, NY An audience of 175 attended AmTrust Title Insurance Co.’s fourth annual summit on July 24th, featuring two panels of professionals discussing the current residential real estate market in New York City.  The event was held at the CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Ave.

“NYC Current Trends in the Residential Market, Outlook for 2019,” moderated by Kim Kirk of Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson, included panelists Howard Morrell, Engel and Volkers; Jacques Cohen, Compass; and Matthew Stenta, Popular Bank.

“Issues Facing NYC’s Residential Market and More,” moderated by Jordan Shea, Douglas Elliman included  Lior Aldad, Esq., Aldad & Associates; Robert  Smith, attorney at law; Ben Brash, Amirian Group; and Daniel Gershburg,  Romer Debbas, LLP.

A plethora of ideas and perspectives were discussed, some of the highlights included:

• Brooklyn is clearly NYC’s ‘hippest’ neighborhood, making locations such as Murray Hill, the Upper East Side and Sutton Place suddenly “affordable.”

• Absorption is happening more slowly at the luxury end of the market than in moderately priced buildings;

• Supply and demand, the basic fundamental, characterizes today’s residential real estate market, and we are oversupplied at the luxury level;

• It’s a buyers’ market, concessions are being made by developers on the backend, the front end, and ultimately if necessary, in reduced pricing.

• There is less foreign investment in luxury developments than in the past, in part due to the Treasury Department’s demand for transparency in identifying purchasers.