Will Wall Street Bonuses Revive NYC Housing?

As goes Wall Street, so goes the New York City real estate market.

While Americans West of the Hudson might decry the return of big investment bank bonuses others-say, local real estate agents or upper and middle class homeowners who are living next to empty, or worse, sublet houses and co-ops-are relieved to see bonuses come back.

The greater New York City housing market has not exactly been strong lately, but the Lehman Brothers collapse in the fall of 2008 basically drove it into a tailspin.

For most of that year and into 2009 top Wall Street employers were straight up going out of business or paralyzed with terror that they might be next.

They cut dividends, slashed payrolls and cut bonuses-the bread and butter for many of the rank and file bankers and secretaries who own homes in the city and outlying suburbs. Enclaves such as Connecticut's tony Greenwich, were devastated.

Even Timothy Geithner couldn't sell his house in Westchester County, joining the ranks of accidental and reluctant landlords.