the cruise-ship Costa Concordia going down almost Titanic-style in Italy
MORE GOOD NEWS FOR REAL ESTATE FROM THE MAN WHO BET AGAINST IT
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on January 13th, 2012 Friday the 13th delivered bad news for Europe as France, Austria, Portugal and 4 other countries were down-graded by Standards + Poor the same agency that downgraded the USA late last year. On the good news front, hedge-fund billionaire John Paulson, who made $15 billion in 2007… [Read More]
THE NEW YORK "BRIC BUYER": IS BRIC THE NEW EURO?
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on January 12th, 2012 To-day revealed that a single Chinese buyer has gone to contract on FOUR apartments at One 57, the Extell developed tower rising on 57th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues with average pricing starting in the $ 5,000/sf range. Another Russian buyer was also identified. These BRIC… [Read More]
MORE GOOD NEWS FOR REAL ESTATE?
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on January 11th, 2012 In a recent Wall Street Journal article a survey of those with investable assets of $ 30m+ revealed that the rich prefer commodities, real-estate, private companies in 2012 to place their investable dollars. 48% plan to increase their allocation to commodities in 2012, and 45% of respondents are looking to… [Read More]
JUNIOR BANKER PAY FREEZE?
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on January 10th, 2012 Bloomberg reported to-day that large banks are considering freezing the pay of junior bankers in light of diminished profitability of their institutions. What this really equates to is that the more senior bankers will do whatever it takes to maintain the quality of their incomes: Banks face… [Read More]
THE ‘MILLION TREES’ GREEN NEW YORKERS…..OH REALLY?
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on January 8th, 2012 Walking up and down the streets of Manhattan I am amazed at the volume of deceased Christmas trees that were once alive and thriving lined up amongst the garbage heaps waiting to be carted off after producing a few weeks of gratification in the form of a… [Read More]
STRONG NEW YORK OPEN HOUSE ATTENDANCE – SERIOUS, VERY EDUCATED BUYERS EMERGE (MANY WITH KIDS).
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on January 8th, 2012 I have just returned from Manhattan Sunday open houses…..the first official weekend of the New Year is always an indicator to me as to how strong or weak the first half of the year will be……and things looked good. The volume of buyers was not huge, although… [Read More]
BANKS POISED FOR DISMAL FOURTH QUARTER RESULTS: BAD FOR NEW YORK?
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on January 7th, 2012 Banks will start posting results for the fourth quarter and year end starting next week, and the results are poised to be weak. Weak results result in many things, so here is my evaluation: 1) Bonuses will probably be down rather sharply from last year, I… [Read More]
CITY POLLUTION: 10 REASONS WHY NEW YORK POLLUTION WILL IMPROVE DRAMATICALLY.
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on January 6th, 2012 The Chinese government announced to-day that they will start to report pollution levles more accurately: if you thought Los Angeles or Denver were bad, you should see Beijing! The explosive 10%+ per year growth combined with 20 million inhabitants and antiquated technologies is producing one of the world’s… [Read More]
JOBS IMPROVING: QUITTERS OUTNUMBER FIRES
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on January 6th, 2012 Some good news from the jobs market……while everyone is rambling on about the big numbers, one of the most important indicators, the disparity between those quitting voluntarily because of better job opportunities and those being fired has improved and now the quitters out-number those fired. In Manhattan,… [Read More]