Richard Meier’s Model Museum in Long Island City is a small gallery devoted to the architect’s ongoing love of the physical process of architecture. The 3,600 sq ft warehouse space is dominated by a vast model of the Getty Center in Los Angeles, still one of the architect’s most celebrated and sizeable commissions. Rather than… [Read More]
LARGE CITIES KEEP GROWING
New York City, the nation’s largest city with about 8.4 million people, continued to grow steadily. The city’s population expanded 0.5% in 2009, compared with 0.4% a year earlier but down from 0.7% in 2007. The recession has prevented people moving to the suburbs to buy homes. This keeps people in larger cities and draws… [Read More]
EASTER SURPRISE! OR WAS IT EXPECTED?
In this month’s LUXURYLETTER, (www.luxuryletter.com) it was reported that Manhattan’s real estate pricing and activity picked up notably over the same period last year. Because LUXURYLETTER addresses the luxury market over $ 1 million, the figures are somewhat different to what is being widely reported…. The other reports that came out from the major real… [Read More]
NEW YORK: THE BEST GLOBAL CITY?
New York fares well in comparison to other global capitals following the economic downturn of 2008, according to Cities of Opportunity, an annual report on what makes cities thrive, released in a report by the Partnership for New York City and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). The report analyzes how twenty-one global cities perform as centers of business opportunity, according to… [Read More]
THE EURO KEEPS WEAKENING….BUY US$$?
News out to-day is that the Euro is weakening: With the Greek crisis looming over the heads of the Euro community, now would probably be a very good time to take money outside of the European community. When we say the Euro is weak, lets not forget that the Euro was trading around 0.90 in 2001, and… [Read More]
RETAIL UP 0.3%! A REFLECTION ON REAL ESTATE?
Led by a big gain in electronics, U.S. retail sales increased 0.3% to a seasonally-adjusted $355.5 billion in February, despite three major snow storms in the East, the Commerce Department estimated Friday. Sales have risen in four of the past five months, and were up 3.9% compared with a year earlier. Most categories of retailers… [Read More]
16% MORE MILLIONAIRES IN 2009
The millionaires’ club in the United States grew by 16 percent in 2009, following a 27 percent decline in 2008. Families with a net worth of at least $1 million, excluding primary residences, rose to 7.8 million in 2009, an increase from 6.7 million a year earlier, according to a survey of high-net-worth U.S. households… [Read More]
PAYBACK! Tarp funds being re-paid.
On Monday, AIG announced that it would sell foreign life insurance business Alico to MetLife (MET, Fortune 500) for $15.5 billion. Last week, AIG said it reached an agreement to sell Asian life insurance giant AIA for $35.5 billion. That’s $51 billion that AIG said will eventually be used to pay down its debt to the… [Read More]
LUXURYLETTER MARCH 2010: WHAT'S THE MARKET UP TO?
In this month’s LUXURYLETTER ( see www.luxuryletter.com) the reports indicate a moderately healthy market, with strong activity on the higher end of the Manhattan Downtown luxury market. Signed contract and closing activity levels are healthy, and pricing for the most part is stable, although drops have been seen in some areas: this does not necessarily… [Read More]
FIVE ‘SPECIAL’ STATES: NY IS NOT ONE OF THEM!
Under pressure to do more for troubled homeowners, President Obama is expected to announce to-day a $1.5 billion program to help borrowers in the five states hit hardest by the housing crisis. The initiative calls for pumping money into state housing agencies in California, Arizona, Nevada, Florida and Michigan to fund programs to prevent foreclosure for… [Read More]