A report from Bisnow on New York. "The supply flood and Millennial masses heading to cheaper fringe areas are causing rents to noticeably dip and condo/townhouse sales to soften. Leslie J. Garfield & Co real estate advisor Ravi Kantha said this pushback should’ve been expected as Brooklyn townhouses are being listed for the same prices as Manhattan luxury condos. 'If the value’s no longer there, only the people who really want to live in Brooklyn will pay those prices,' he told the crowd at Bisnow's Brooklyn's State of the Market."

"He said companies, including his own, need to readjust their expectations. Toll Brothers City Living president David von Spreckelsen said his firm’s already done so, focusing on a delivering condos worth $2M or less."

From Crain's New York. "Buyers at Manhattan’s tallest ultra-luxury condo tower are getting discounts worth millions, a sign of the times in a market that’s swamped with costly homes. At 432 Park Ave., buyers who signed contracts and completed those purchases this year got price reductions averaging 10%, according to an analysis by appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. In one of the most recent big transactions to close, a penthouse on the 88th floor sold for $60.9 million, a 20% markdown from what developers initially sought, city property records made public Dec. 2 show."

"As new high-end projects mushroom across the skyline, developers of ones that came to the market earlier are cutting deals to unload units before competition gets even more heated. Sales at 432 Park, a 1,397-foot tower on 57th Street off Park Avenue, started in 2012, when the building was just an idea on paper. Now, with construction finished, purchases are able to close and the developers are highlighting that, along with price cuts, as ways to seal a deal with buyers who have many choices."

"'It think it’s smart,' said Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel. 'This is a recognition of the product that’s coming up behind this one.'"

"The building isn’t the only recently completed ultra-luxury tower that’s lowered prices. A few blocks away on 57th Street, a 4,193-square foot apartment at Extell Development Co.’s One57 sold in October for $21.6 million, or 24% off the last asking price, according to listings website StreetEasy. Discounting is also happening at Manhattan projects that are still under construction. 'Every building is implementing some some sort of negotiability,' Miller said. 'It’s a sharp change from peak new development in 2014, when there wasn’t that opportunity for buyers.'"

From Vanity Fair. "One of the more ghostly, lonely things about modern New York City is that many of the luxury apartments tumored across Manhattan are bought and paid for with millions of dollars, and yet they lie empty. Whole towers of massive duplexes, owned yet unoccupied, vanity purchases made by Saudi billionaires and Russian oligarchs that were never meant to be lived in. They’re simply equity, or bragging rights. Hell, there’s a whole hideous quarter-mile-high totem to this practice currently destroying the city’s skyline."

"It’s just a fact of New York City that oftentimes rich people buy apartments that they never live in. Even celebrities do it. Celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio. Yes, the FernGully to our collective There Will Be Blood purchased a Manhattan apartment in the East Village—a home for 'wellness' endorsed by Deepak Chopra—in 2013 for $10 million, and yet never moved in. Now he’s sold it at a loss, for $8 million. He lost $2 million on the deal! And he never even lived there. Isn’t that sad?"

"It’s sad for DiCaprio’s bank account, of course. It’s sad for Deepak Chopra. It’s sad for the free parking space DiCaprio was given, to park his '$100,000 Fisker Karma hybrid,' according to Page Six. If anyone had any idea what a Fisker Karma hybrid is, then I’m sure we’d find something sad there too. The whole thing is sad!"

From Mansion Global. "Colin Kaepernick is back in the news, although this time it has nothing to do with the National Anthem: The San Francisco 49ers quarterback has bought a Tribeca condo and is selling off his San Jose home. Mr. Kaepernick quietly bought the two-bedroom apartment in luxury development One York for $3.21 million in July under a family trust, Mansion Global has learned."

"Mr. Kaepernick’s new apartment, at 1,733 square feet, is only a fraction of the size of the mansion he’s now selling in San Jose, a 4,569-square-foot house in San Jose’s Silver Creek neighborhood. He announced through the team that he’s listed the mansion for $2.895 million. According to the listing, the property benefited from a $300,000 renovation, presumably by the 29-year-old athlete, who moved in two years ago. Mr. Kaepernick bought his San Jose home under a family trust for $2.7 million in 2014, according to property records."