Posted by Leonard Steinberg on November 22nd, 2013 The DOW has gone over the 16,000 threshold again to-day: an indicator of an improving economy or a signal that we may be at a high? NO-ONE knows. Lets focus on what we do know. There are strong arguments on both sides for sure. Just finished an interview with… [Read More]
AN EDITORIAL THAT ENCOURAGES BUILDING MORE FOR BILLIONAIRES
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on November 21st, 2013 Matthew Yglesias posted this editorial on SLATE.com and I thought you should read it: In it lies some wisdom that many should read (whether we like it or not). A billionaire might be anywhere at any time, riding away on his private jet. But for day-to-day purposes, 30… [Read More]
LUXOFLATION HITS HONG KONG: LUXURY REAL ESTATE PRICES ESTIMATED TO DROP 25%
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]
GREENWICH VILLAGE: THE GILDED GHETTO?
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on September 5th, 2012 This month Vanity Fair termed Greenwich Village the “GILDED GHETTO”: is this the appropriate description of the neighborhood everyone, including foreigners, Uptowners and Downtowner’s, agree is the ultimate New York living environment? The area’s unique combination of (guaranteed) low lying buildings that provide the best light in… [Read More]
R I C H – THE MOST MIS-USED FOUR LETTER WORD OF 2011
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on December 22nd, 2011 The word RICH has to be one of the most used words of 2011….it also happens to be a four letter word. Just like the word LUXURY, it also has to be the most mis-used word, although in this lie many similarities. What is rich? What is… [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]
IS THE NEXT NEW YORK BUILDING BOOM UPON US?
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on September 28th, 2011 As New York luxury residential real estate construction awakes from its slumber, we should prepare ourselves for another building boom in the city. Assuming construction financing flows and no major financial or political crisis hits, this could be very good for construction employment in the city. Already,… [Read More]
IS THERE REAL LUXURY? OR IS IT JUST A BIG CON?
In this morning’s Financial Times, Aswath Damodaran, the NYU business school professorwho moonlights as the guy who teaches Goldman Sachs trainees about how to value companies, said he defined luxury as an industry that has figured out how to leave people feeling good about being suckered. He also said you can’t value luxury; it’s in the… [Read More]