Carlos Slim buys Fifth Avenue townhouse, $44 million

Carlos Slim buys Fifth Avenue townhouse for $44 million - WSJ.com

Midtown East: Blue-Chip Manhattan Neighborhood

Midtown East:  Blue Chip Manhattan Neighborhood
My article as published in TheStreet.com 7/16/10.

NEW YORK (TheStreet ) -- Manhattan, New York's Midtown East neighborhood has some of the largest concentration of Fortune 500 offices, highest real estate prices and fanciest retail shops in the world.

New York Property Outlook

Excerpts from radio interview with CBS's The Political Chick on 7/12/10:

New York (Manhattan) property outlook

- Bottom is over and Manhattan, New York property market should see steady increase.  Not V but gradual increase.

- Wall Street is rehiring again.  In 2009, Wall Street made record $61 billion.

- Impact of the first time homebuyer credit is minimal to Manhattan buyers because the median price in Manhattan is $900,000.  The impact is higher for the US average home which is only $200,000.

- Foreigners and buyers are coming back into the market.  This reflected in 2Q'10 transactions increasing 80% and median price increasing 7.6%.

- Do not expect double dip in New York property market because of the above reasons.

New York Apartment prices

New York apartment prices (condo) as of second quarter, 2010.  Condo apartment prices increased 3% vs last quarter and 10% vs last year.  Transactions surged 90% vs last year.  
Studio             $444,000
1 bedroom      $687,000
2 bedroom      $1.35 million
3 bedroom      $2.7 million
4 bedroom+    $ 5.8 million


We serve international, foreign investors interested in buying Manhattan, New York apartments.  Our team is very familiar with financing and tax issues, primary concerns of foreign buyers.    


Our Youtube video on New York Apartment Prices 
Castle Avenue Partners - New York Apartment Overview 

Data:  Miller Samuel Appraisers

2Q Manhattan Property Prices, Sales Up

Manhattan Property Prices, Sales Up (link)
Just published in TheStreet.com.
- Manhattan property showed positive signs by all metrics.
- Prices up, transactions surged, days on market declined.
- Median price still 13 percent lower than peak reached in 2008.
- Expect gradual increase, rather than V shaped spike, moving forward.

World's Most Expensive Cities 2010

New York, America's only city in the ranking, is ranked 29 out of 32 cities.  The $40 lunch and $12 movie tickets aren't that bad after all.

1. Tokyo, Japan

2. Oslo, Norway

3. Luanda, Angola

4. Nagoya, Japan

5. Yokohama, Japan

6. Stavanger, Norway

7. Kobe, Japan

8. Copenhagen, Denmark

9. Geneva, Switzerland

10.  Zurich, Switzerland