Robert Knakal – Commercial Observer

Jamie Dimon.

Residential · Columnists

An Open Letter to Jamie Dimon on Rethinking Collateral in Rent-Regulated Lending

By Robert Knakal

View of hard hat and gloves at construction site.

Residential · Development

New York’s $72.45 Question: When Policy Prices Housing Out of Reach

By Robert Knakal

Brooklyn apartment buildings

Residential · Development

Record New York Apartment Rents? Blame Policymakers, Not Landlords.

By Robert Knakal

grass sprout growing in a dry land while rain falls.

Industry · Investments & Sales

Manhattan’s Long Investment Sales Drought — And Why a Surge May Be Coming

By Robert Knakal

Kingsbridge Armory.

Retail · Columnists

New York’s Kingsbridge Armory Debacle — Or, When Ideology Replaces Common Sense

By Robert Knakal

Sean Connery as James Bond in Goldfinger.

Industry · Technology

Artificial Intelligence Is Commercial Real Estate’s James Bond Moment

By Robert Knakal

An illustration of a person using a laptop computer to do data analysis.

Industry · Technology

AI Can Be Used to Measure Buyer Behavior — and to Represent Sellers Better

By Robert Knakal

Residential · Policy

New York’s Rent Guidelines Board Makeover Is Bad for the City’s Housing Stock

By Robert Knakal

Man's Hands With Shirt Sleeves Rolled Up Performing Playing Shell Game.

Industry · Columnists

The Hidden Conflicts of Full-Service CRE Brokerage — and Why Focus Matters

By Robert Knakal

Construction on a residential building in Queens.

Residential · Investments & Sales

The Math Always Wins: 485x’s Wage Triggers Are Choking Large-Scale NYC Housing

By Robert Knakal

Spanish-language social distancing safety sticker on a concrete footpath stating 'Espere aquí' [Wait here]

Industry · Columnists

Why International Footprints Don’t Sell NYC Investment Properties

By Robert Knakal

Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks with Nadege Romulus (right) as he visits her apartment in the Prospect Lefferts Gardens neighborhood of Brooklyn.

Residential · Policy

Distress in New York’s Rent-Regulated Housing Is Simple Math

By Robert Knakal

An illustration of a business person wrestling with interest rates.

Industry · Finance

Waiting for Dramatically Lower Interest Rates Is a Mistake

By Robert Knakal

Elliott-Chelsea Houses.

Residential · Columnists

What the Opposition to Chelsea’s NYCHA Redevelopment Gets Wrong

By Robert Knakal

President Richard Nixon famously pressured his Fed chair, Arthur Burns.

Residential · Columnists

A Price-Fixing History Lesson Mayor-Elect Mamdani Sorely Needs to Learn

By Robert Knakal

A set of narrow apartment buildings, each a few stories and with fire escapes running down them.

Residential · Columnists

New York City’s Housing Crisis: Here Are the Policies and Moves For Solving It

By Robert Knakal

Apartment buildings in the Bronx.

Residential · Columnists

New York City Policymakers Continue to Get in the Way of Lower Rents

By Robert Knakal