Posted on November 7, 2011 So you thought the world’s luxury market was in trouble? Think again. French luxury group Hermes raised its full-year sales forecast on Friday after third-quarter growth beat its initial target, pulled by buoyant demand for the 174-year-old brand in Europe, the Americas and Asia. The maker of 10,000-euro leather bags… [Read More]
ITS TIME TO CHANGE NEW YORK CITY SCAFFOLDING
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on July 30th, 2011 We have covered this subject before in LUXURYLETTER: Manhattan and New York City sidewalks are constantly covered with hideous, unsightly construction sheds and scaffolding. Always dark, somewhat sketchy, and often covered with graffiti, the sheds leave much to be desired, which is why the Department of Buildings… [Read More]
LUXURYLETTER – THE DOWNTOWN MARKET REPORT
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on April 1, 2011 First Quarter reports released to-day embarassingly distort the Manhattan real estate market statistics: They talk about a sharp drop in average pricing (like there is such a thing as average in Manhattan) but fail to mention that the reason for this is the low inventory of new construction… [Read More]
LEONA HELMSLEY LIVES! THE NOUVEAU LITTLE PEOPLE PAY TAXES
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on March 30th, 2011 OIl companies scream DRILL BABY DRILL, as it will be good for the USA, create jobs, generate tax revenues, yet Transocean denounces their USA ownership status, moves to Switzerland, and avoids $ 2 billion in taxes. 35% corporate tax rates are amongst the highest in the world,… [Read More]
TWO PRE-RECESSION WORDS RETURN: 1) MULTIPLE 2) BIDS
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on December 21, 2010 Before the recession hit hard, MULTIPLE BIDS were the norm on many real estate listings. Those two words virtually disappeared from the vocabulary of New York real estate brokers: they are ba-ack! I have recently experienced a few of my own listings with more than one bidder,… [Read More]
SUPERIOR INK HOUSTON ROCKETS PENTHOUSE SELLS FOR (KINDA)RECORD
The penthouse at the Superior Ink building in Greenwich Village, New York, owned by Houston Rockets owner, Leslie Alexander, has sold for a record $ 31,5million according to the Wall Street Journal. But is it a record for Downtown? Yes and no. The quadruplex combination penthouse at 200 Eleventh Avenue sold for around $ 33… [Read More]
E.T. is the new I.T.
Did you know that the waste produced from burning coal can be re-used to create portland cement? Did you know that a incandescent light fixture replaced with a LED light fixture saves about 80% of energy consumption. So while the world seeks some miraculous new source of energy, the rest of the world has discovered… [Read More]
BABY BOOMER BUDGET CUTS
News headlines are overwhelmed with talk about how to cut the deficit. The tone before the election is noticeably different to the tone after the election as the practical realities of balancing the budget surface. On of the very biggest areas of spending is entitlements, and right now we are entering a significant milestone: The… [Read More]
$ 10,000+ PER SQUARE FOOT HITS NEW YORK MARKET AT 15 CENTRAL PARK WEST
The elusive $ 10,000/square foot price has been reached in Manhattan with the sale of the Zeckendorf’s penthouse at 15 Central Park West. The $ 40million sale of their penthouse marks a turning point in the history of New York real estate pricing. “We have by-passed The Gilded Age, and entered THE PLATINUM AGE,” says… [Read More]
FOREIGN BUYERS + SAFE BET BUYS FUEL ART BUYING
Two trends emerged in this weeks art auctions that are a reflection of the luxury buyer: Firstly, the bulk of ‘big-bucks-buyers’ were from foreign lands (obviously using foreign currencies to capitalize on the weak dollar). The reality is the big new money is being made in many countries besides the USA. The second trend is… [Read More]