Posted on May 14th, 2013 After this morning’s KNIGHT FRANK-led conference on the international housing outlook, predicting huge growth in demand for luxury real estate as global wealth expands, more news came in about the ever improving U.S. economy: The budget deficit will shrink this year to $642 billion, the smallest shortfall in five years….some good… [Read More]
TIME FOR CONSUMER ELECTRONICS THAT ACTUALLY WORK FOR CONSUMERS?
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on January 19th, 2013 This week the discussion arose again about electronics for AV systems and ‘smart homes’ at one of my meetings with a developer client developing a gorgeous luxury building in New York. What exactly does the consumer want delivered to-day in a brand new Manhattan luxury apartment in the way… [Read More]
IS LUXOFLATION SET TO SURGE IN 2013?
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on January 3rd, 2013 Bloomberg reported that the worlds billionaire’s net worth surged in 2012, some by as much as twenty percent. Does this imply a sharp escalation in LUXOFLATION, our measure of the pricing inflation we have identified in the super luxury markets? I think it’s very likely. Already we… [Read More]
SIGNS OF FISCAL CLIFF RICH-TAX SANITY?
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on December 17th, 2012 The Republicans have agreed to raising the tax rates on the rich at last…..the real rich: those earning $ 1million and more per year. At last the definition of wealthy has shifted from a stupid version to a more realistic one. Which idiotic politician truly believed that… [Read More]
THE BIGGEST SOCIAL REVOLUTION EVER?
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on October 29th, 2011 THE BIGGEST SOCIAL REVOLUTION EVER? We are currently experiencing a dramatic societal shift, and in it lie superb clues to the future of our planet, and luxury real estate, a subject I am focused on. Here are the key trends: Machines have replaced humans on a grand scale:… [Read More]
WE LOVE THIS LIGHT! THE UN-FLUORESCENT, EFFICIENT LIGHT.
We found this simple, elegant light fixture in the bathrooms of a hotel in Italy and thought it to be the best lighting for a bathroom. “This lighting is both super-efficient and also did not give you that hideous blue-white, sickly appearance created by the average fluorescent lighting fixture found now in too many bathrooms,”… [Read More]
IMAGINE ALL NEW YORK WITH THESE AWNINGS….AND…..
Imagine these awnings (or a version thereof) attached to all sunny sides of buildings in Manhattan where the awnings not only provide cover from the sun and rain, but also produce power…..what about small solar panels or wind turbines that you plug in just like a small appliance?…..that’s the promise of a Seattle, Washington-based start-up… [Read More]
HUDSON BLUES….
In this morning’s Wall Street Journal, the next stage in the saga of the building HUDSON BLUE at 423 West Street is reported: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704017904575409722058648014.html This building, located a few doors down from the 3 Richard Meier Towers, home to celebrities Calvin Klein and Hugh Jackman, somewhat emulating their glass and white steel facade, has been… [Read More]
ARCHITECTURE SHIFT: IS THE GLASS BOX TREND OVER?
“New Yorkers may be burnt out on glass buildings,” architect James Carpenter said in a recent New York Times article. With over more than 30 years as a glass artist, he is now more focused on using the material not as mere enclosure, but as a tool for manipulating light. The debate still rages on… [Read More]
CLINTON WEDDING vs. BUSH WEDDING (and the real estate)
In this morning’s Wall Street Journal, it was reported that Jenna Bush’s wedding cost a mere $ 100,000.00 compared to the stratospheric $ 3 million estimate for Chelsea Clinton’s wedding: “Bottom line? Think more like Jenna Bush, and less like Chelsea Clinton” A good point, yet one major defining issue was over-looked: the real estate…. [Read More]