Led by a big gain in electronics, U.S. retail sales increased 0.3% to a seasonally-adjusted $355.5 billion in February, despite three major snow storms in the East, the Commerce Department estimated Friday. Sales have risen in four of the past five months, and were up 3.9% compared with a year earlier. Most categories of retailers… [Read More]
16% MORE MILLIONAIRES IN 2009
The millionaires’ club in the United States grew by 16 percent in 2009, following a 27 percent decline in 2008. Families with a net worth of at least $1 million, excluding primary residences, rose to 7.8 million in 2009, an increase from 6.7 million a year earlier, according to a survey of high-net-worth U.S. households… [Read More]
ABC KITCHEN – JEAN GEORGE’S LATEST.
Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s newest venture is ABC KITCHEN, a roughly 150-seat café inside ABC Carpet & Home that will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner and fresh juices at a juice bar with a ‘from farm-to-kitchen’ mindset. Located steps off Union Square in the Flatiron District, Vongerichten worked with ABC CEO Paulette Cole on the design,… [Read More]
THE LUXURY MARKET BAROMETER?
Neiman Marcus Group Inc. swung to a fiscal second-quarter profit on steep write-downs a year earlier, as the luxury retailer posted higher revenue and lower expenses. The Dallas-based retailer is also owner of BERGDORF GOODMAN. Neiman’s is probably the most important barometer of the Luxury market, and this certainly is a good indicator of the luxury market… [Read More]
PAYBACK! Tarp funds being re-paid.
On Monday, AIG announced that it would sell foreign life insurance business Alico to MetLife (MET, Fortune 500) for $15.5 billion. Last week, AIG said it reached an agreement to sell Asian life insurance giant AIA for $35.5 billion. That’s $51 billion that AIG said will eventually be used to pay down its debt to the… [Read More]
CORPORATION + PRIVATE CASH SAVINGS UNLEASHED
This morning’s Wall Street Journal reports that one year removed from the trough of the recession, American corporations continue to hoard more cash than ever. There are now tentative signs that they are finally comfortable using the money to do some shopping. The 382 nonfinancial firms in the Standard & Poor’s 500 that have… [Read More]
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL vs. THE NEW YORK TIMES
Rupert Murdoch made official on Tuesday what has been widely reported for the past few months: The Wall Street Journal will be launching a New York section in April. Speaking at a midtown gathering of the Real Estate Board of New York, the News Corp. chairman lauded the real estate industry—a likely source of… [Read More]
LUXURYLETTER MARCH 2010: WHAT'S THE MARKET UP TO?
In this month’s LUXURYLETTER ( see www.luxuryletter.com) the reports indicate a moderately healthy market, with strong activity on the higher end of the Manhattan Downtown luxury market. Signed contract and closing activity levels are healthy, and pricing for the most part is stable, although drops have been seen in some areas: this does not necessarily… [Read More]
BUFFET TALKS REAL ESTATE
Billionaire Warren Buffett said the U.S. residential real estate slump will end by about 2011, predicting that’s how long it will take demand for homes to catch up with the supply. “Within a year or so, residential housing problems should largely be behind us,” Buffett wrote Feb. 27 in his annual letter to shareholders of… [Read More]
STABILIZATION STRENGTHENS
There seems to be growing consensus that the US real estate market has indeed bottomed out. Reuters reports today that the number of transactions, pricing and general mood indicate stabilization. Price increases are unlikely this year, but are expected next year. In Manhattan we are not seeing pricing rise, but we are seeing offers off… [Read More]