Posted by Leonard Steinberg on October 24th, 2013 I went to a fundraiser for New York mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio last night in a very fancy Upper East Side townhouse full of (mostly)Republican real estate big-wigs….wow, what a crowd! Hearing de Blasio speak was heartening in some ways as he seems to geniuniely care… [Read More]
DOLLAR SLIDES: WILL IT ATTRACT MORE FOREIGN BUYERS?
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on October 23rd, 2013 The dollar is hovering around 1.38 Euro’s, about 8% lower than a year ago: will this encourage even more foreign buyers?
THE BORGATA, ATLANTIC CITY: ESCAPE FROM THE DARKNESS
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on October 22nd, 2013 I just returned from Atlantic City after a 20-hour visit for a Douglas Elliman conference where Kevin Spacey thrilled the audience with a speech about his re-invention that was truly inspiring…..smart, witty, informative, clever! Equally inspiring was escaping the confines of the BORGATA: I recall walking miles… [Read More]
OLDER (RICH) NEW YORK LUXURY REAL ESTATE BUYERS
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on October 21st, 2013 Increasingly I am finding older buyers entering the Manhattan luxury market. They are not necessarily ‘old’ but they are a lot older than the developers, buildings, apartments and brokers catering to buyers. Every time a developer asks me about what demographics to expect for a building their… [Read More]
DEAR "MAYOR" DE BLASIO: PLEASE GET THIS HOUSING THING RIGHT!
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on October 19th, 2013 Its almost a certainty that New York’s next mayor will be Bill de Blasio who has been very vocal about the need for more affordable housing. He is correct, and just like Mayor Bloomberg has added more than 156,000 units in his 12 years, very close to… [Read More]
UMA THURMAN BUYS AT RIVERHOUSE
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on October 16th, 2013 Uma Thurman is buying an apartment at iconic Riverhouse. The gossip rags are aflutter over this purchase, but from a real estate perspective this is a VERY important sale that every co-op in Manhattan should look at closely. Several months ago I reported how this co-op’s board… [Read More]
De Blasio slams Joe Lhota tax plan as a $2B giveaway to the rich
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on October 14th, 2013 The ‘MAYOR OF FAIRNESS” Bill de Blasio continues to frame his opponent Joe Lhota as the candidate who wants to give free-bees to the rich: Mr. De Blasio should simultaneously address why he and many others pay a QUARTER of the real estate taxes many New Yorkers… [Read More]
NEW ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS AFTER SANDY
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on October 12th, 2013 As we approach the one year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy, the deadliest and most destructive hurricane of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, as well as the second-costliest hurricane in United States history that killed 73 people and cost New York around $42 billion. ($65 billion in total US damages),… [Read More]
GLOBAL WEALTH REACHES ALL TIME HIGH
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on October 8th, 2013 In the on-going debate about the depth of buyers for the $ 22billion worth of inventory coming to the New York residential real estate market, I thought it wise to evaluate wealth in general…..and luckily a Credit Suisse Report on the subject hit my desk this morning…. [Read More]
WHEN GOVERNMENTS STRANGLE MARKETS
Posted by Leonard Steinberg on October 8th, 2013 I had an interesting meeting earlier to-day with a group of international real estate leaders to gauge the current state of affairs in global ‘real estate land’: one message emerged that is truly of great concern, especially now as we enter the last phase of the New… [Read More]