Manhattan Market Intelligence

The recent acquisition of Anywhere by Compass marks one of the largest consolidations in the history of the U.S. brokerage landscape. On paper, it’s the kind of deal that signals strength: more agents, more offices, more scale. But as Bess Freedman, CEO of Brown Harris Stevens, reminds us that “ bigger doesn’t always mean better ,” especially when it comes to serving sellers. Her message cuts through the noise of consolidation to underscore what matters most for clients—tra

This week, New York’s casino race dealt two high-profile proposals a losing hand. Both Silverstein Properties’ Avenir project on the West Side and the Caesars/SL Green bid for Times Square were rejected by the Community Advisory Committee . On paper, these weren’t just casinos—they were ambitious mixed-use visions promising thousands of new apartments, hotels, cultural venues, and jobs. In practice, community opposition and cultural pushback proved stronger than the develope

Markets are nearly unanimous that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at its September meeting, with odds close to 90% for a reduction. In fact, Brown Harris Stevens Chief Economist Greg Heym noted that the August jobs report shows a softening labor market with weak hiring and rising unemployment—leaving the Fed with little choice but to cut rates by at least 25 basis points , as of his write-up on September 5. As of this morning, the odds of a 50-basis-point cut sta

According to a recent Zillow analysis , “a median-income family would either need home values to fall by 18% or mortgage rates to drop from June’s 6.74% to 4.43% in order to afford a typical U.S. home.” In other words, waiting for both rates and prices to tumble is unrealistic. The New York Times goes further, pointing out the U.S. metros where a median-income household has the highest affordability for a median-priced home. But while those national headlines may sound...