Posted by Leonard Steinberg on October 28th, 2013 Hong Kong is seeing signs of the effects of what I call LUXOFLATION…..the inflated inflation of pricing on the very high end of the real estate market. The frenzy to buy real estate in Hong Kong is significantly more crazy than Manhattan’s recent flurry of activity: A new… [Read More]
MASS SURVEILLANCE: MASS STUPIDITY?
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on October 26th, 2013 The world is AGHAST at the revelations that the US has been monitoring phone calls and e-mails across the globe, as if spying and intelligence gathering were something very new to our planet. The Germans (with their deep history of isolation?)are especially perturbed about this subject: really???… [Read More]
THE HIGH END TEAR-DOWN
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on October 27th, 2013 A report released recently shows that many houses in the Hampton’s are being torn down again to be replaced by much larger ones, fueled by a very strong high end market. I have often heard buyers of old dilapidated houses wishing they had torn down the old… [Read More]
MULTIPLE BIDS FOR WEST VILLAGE APARTMENT
Posted on October 26th, 2013 A rather nice apartment with a large terrace located at 99 Jane Street, designed originally by CookFox architects to be a rental building, came on the market last week for $8 million. By the end of the week, a contract was signed after multiple bids for shy of $10 million……about 25% over the asking… [Read More]
KISS THE RING: DE BLASIO SPEAKS
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on October 24th, 2013 I went to a fundraiser for New York mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio last night in a very fancy Upper East Side townhouse full of (mostly)Republican real estate big-wigs….wow, what a crowd! Hearing de Blasio speak was heartening in some ways as he seems to geniuniely care… [Read More]
DOLLAR SLIDES: WILL IT ATTRACT MORE FOREIGN BUYERS?
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on October 23rd, 2013 The dollar is hovering around 1.38 Euro’s, about 8% lower than a year ago: will this encourage even more foreign buyers?
THE BORGATA, ATLANTIC CITY: ESCAPE FROM THE DARKNESS
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on October 22nd, 2013 I just returned from Atlantic City after a 20-hour visit for a Douglas Elliman conference where Kevin Spacey thrilled the audience with a speech about his re-invention that was truly inspiring…..smart, witty, informative, clever! Equally inspiring was escaping the confines of the BORGATA: I recall walking miles… [Read More]
150 CHARLES CONTINUES GROWING
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on October 21st, 2013 150 Charles Street, the CookFox-designed, Witkoff-developed condominium in the West Village that achieved the largest, fastest sell-out in history ($3/4 BILLION in 3 months!)keeps growing….
OLDER (RICH) NEW YORK LUXURY REAL ESTATE BUYERS
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on October 21st, 2013 Increasingly I am finding older buyers entering the Manhattan luxury market. They are not necessarily ‘old’ but they are a lot older than the developers, buildings, apartments and brokers catering to buyers. Every time a developer asks me about what demographics to expect for a building their… [Read More]
THE INVESTOR VISA PROGRAM DRAWS FOREIGN BUYERS TO NEW YORK
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on October 19th, 2013 KNIGHT FRANK recently ranked the most tax-friendly cities in the world to evaluate their quality of life (and cost)….New York did not make the list! We are reminded of our super-high real estate taxes every time a foreign buyer asks about monthly carrying costs when buying in… [Read More]